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THE 
BOOK   OF  THE  OCEAN 


Qtbec  \)00\{6  in  dimtlar  et^lc  and  binding. 

THE  CENTURY 

WORLD'S  FAIR  BOOK 

FOR  BOYS  &  GIRLS. 

BY  TUDOR  JENKS. 
The  standard  young  folks'  book  of  the  Fair.     The  story 
of  two  boys  who  visited  the  great  exhibition  with  their  tutor. 
250  pages,  richly  illustrated,  from  photographs,  etc.     $1. 50. 


* 


* 


B3 


BY  ELBRIDGE  S.  BROOKS. 
Issued  under  the  auspices  of  the  Sorts  and  Daughters  0/ 
the  A  nierican  Revolution.     Each  with  about  2^0  pagei 
and  as  many  illustrations,  in  handsome  binding.     $1.^0. 

THE  CENTURY  BOOK 
FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

Telling  in  attractive  story  form  what  every  boy  and  girl 
ought  to  know  about  the  government, —  the  President, 
Senate,  etc.     Introduction  by  General  Horace  Porter. 

THE  CENTURY  BOOK  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

The  story  of  the  pilgrimage  of  a  party  of  young  folks  to  the 
famous  Revolutionary  battle-fields  from  Lexington  to  York- 
town.     Introduction  by  the  Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew. 

THE  CENTURY  BOOK 
OF  FAMOUS  AMERICANS. 


Revolution 


Describing  a  trip  to  the  historic  homes  of  America  — Wash-  ff 

ington's,  Lincoln's,  Grant's,  etc.    With  an  introduction  by  ^ 

the  President-General  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  « 

\^     Revolution.  \ 

A  XTbe  Centura?  Co. 


^41 


>y;.-;::?-'%:::^^v 


THE 


BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


BY 

ERNEST    INGERSOLL 

AUTHOR  OF  "KNOCKING  ROUND  THE  ROCKIES,"  "THE  OYSTER  INDUSTRIES  OF 

THE  UNITED    STATES,"    "FRIENDS    WORTH    KNOWING,"    "WILD 

NEIGHBORS,"  "THE  CREST  OF  THE  CONTINENT,"  ETC. 


miustrateb 


NEW  YORK 
THE    CENTURY    CO. 

1898 


Copyright,  1898, 
By  The  Century  Co. 


THE  DE  VINNE  PRESS. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I  The  Ocean  and  its  Origin i 

II  Waves,  Tides,  and  Currents 9 

III  The  Building  and  Rigging  of  Ships 27 

IV  Early  Voyages  and  Explorations 39 

Part    I  —  Previous  to  the  Discovery  of  America. 
Part  II  —  From  Columbus  to  Cook. 

V  Secrets  Won  from  the  Frozen  North .  tj 

VI  War-Ships  and  Naval  Battles 107 

Part    I  —  Wooden  Walls,  from  Salamis  to  Trafalgar, 
Part  II  —  The  Present  Era  of  Steam  and  Steel. 

VII  The  Merchants  of  the  Sea 155 

VIII  Robbers  of  the  Seas 171 

IX  Yachting  and  Pleasure-Boating 187 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

X  Dangers  of  the  Deep 201 

XI  Fishing  and  other  Marine  Industries 231 

XII  The  Plants  of  the  Sea  and  their  Uses  . 249 

XIII  Animal  Life  in  the  Sea ,    . 259 

Index  of  Illustrations 275 

General  Index    277 


THE   BOOK   OF  THE  OCEAN 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


CHAPTER   I 


THE     OCEAN    AND     ITS     ORIGIN 


OOKING  at  the  land,  we  divide  the  surface  of  the  earth  into 
eastern  and  western  hemispheres ;  but  looking  at  the  water, 
we  make  an  opposite  classification.  Encircle  the  globe  in 
your  library  with  a  rubber  band,  so  that  it  cuts  across  South 
America  from  about  Porto  Alegre  to  Lima  on  one  side,  and 
through  southern  Siam  and  the  northernmost  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
on  the  other,  and  you  make  hemispheres,  the  northern  of  which  (with 
London  at  its  center)  contains  almost  all  the  land  of  the  globe,  while  the 
southern  (with  New  Zealand  as  its  central  point)  is  almost  entirely  water, 
Australia,  and  the  narrow  southern  half  of  South  America  being  the  only 
lands  of  consequence  in  its  whole  area.  Observing  the  map  in  this  way, 
noticing  that,  besides  nearly  a  complete  half-world  of  water  south  of  your 
rubber  equator,  much  of  the  northern  hemisphere  also  is  afloat,  you  are 
willing  to  believe  the  assertion  that  there  is  almost  three  times  as  much  of 
the  outside  of  the  earth  hidden  under  the  waves  as  appears  above  them. 
The  estimate  in  round  numbers  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  square 
(statute)  miles  of  ocean  surface,  as  compared  with  about  fifty  million  square 
miles  of  land  on  the  globe. 

To  the  people  whose  speculations  in  geography  are  the  oldest  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  the  earth  seemed  to  be  an  island  around  which  was  per- 
petually flowing  a  river  with  no  further  shore  visible.  Beyond  it,  they 
thought,  lay  the  abodes  of  the  dead.  This  river,  as  the  source  of  all  other 
rivers  and  waters,  was  deified  by  the  early  Greeks  and  placed  among  their 
highest  gods  as  Oceanus,  whence  our  word  "  ocean."  Accompanying,  or  be- 
longing to  him,  there  grew  up,  in  the  fertile  imagination  of  that  poetic 
people,  a  large  company  of  gods  and  goddesses,  while  men  hid  their  ab- 
sence of  real  knowledge  by  peopling  the  deep  with  quaint  monsters. 


2  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

"The  word  for  'ocean'  {mare)  in  the  Latin  tongue  means,  by  derivation, 
a  desert,  and  the  Greeks  spoke  of  it  as  '  the  barren  brine.'  " 

Over  these  old  fables  we  need  not  linger.  All  the  myths  and  guess- 
work that  went  before  history  represented  the  sea  as  older  than  the  land, 
and  told  how  creation  began  by  lifting  the  earth  above  the  universal 
waste  of  waters.     The  story  in  Genesis  is  only  one  of  many  such  stories. 

Scientific  men  believe  that  when  our  planet  first  went  circling  swiftly  in 
its   orbit   it  was   a  glowing,    globular  mass   of  fiery  vapors ;    but  as  time 


A   QUIET   SEA,   AND   THE   SUN   AT   MIDNIGHT. 
From  a  photograph. 

passed,  the  icy  chill  of  space  slowly  cooled  these  vapors,  and  chemical 
changes  steadily  modified,  sorted,  and  solidified  the  materials  into  the  begin- 
nings of  the  present  form  and  character,  until  at  last  water  came  into  exis- 
tence. This  must  have  been  at  first  in  the  form  of  a  thick  envelop  of  heated 
vapors,  impregnated  with  gases,  that  inwrapped  the  globe  in  a  darkness  lit 
only  by  its  own  fires. 

After  that,  when  further  changes  had  come  about, — let  us  picture  it, — 
what  deluges  of  rain  were  poured  out  of  and  down  through  those  murky 
clouds  where  thunders  bellowed  and  lightnings  warred !  At  first  all  the 
rains   that  fell  must  have  been  turned  to  steam  again ;  but  by  and  by  the 


THE    OCEAN    AND    ITS    ORIGIN 


EATING    AWAY    THE   COAST. 


Steady  downpour  cooled  the  shap- 
ing globe  so  that  all  the  water 
was  not  vaporized,  but  some 
stayed  as  a  liquid  where  it  fell, 
and  this  increased  in  amount 
more  and  more,  until  finally, 
between  the  hissing  core  of  the 
half- hardened  planet  and  the 
dense  clouds  which  kept  out  all 
the  sunlight,  there  rolled  the 
heated  waves  of  the  first  ocean 
— an  ocean  broken  only  by  the 
earliest  ridges,  like  chains  of  islands,  marking  the  skeletons  of  the  con- 
tinents that  were  to  follow  —  an  ocean  sending  up  ceaseless  volumes  of 
steam  to  form  new  clouds. 

Yet  all  the  while  the  cooling  of  the  planet  went  on.  Now,  when  any 
heated  substance  cools  it  contracts,  and  the  globe  as  a  whole  is  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule ;  but  a  sphere  formed  of  so  incompressible  a  substance 
as  rock  can  shrink  only  by  some  sort  of  folding  or  displacement  of  its  sur- 
face.    Therefore,   as  the  cooling  of  our        

globe  proceeded,   explosions  and  swell-     ^^P  ^ 

ings  constantly  occurred  at  weak  points  p 
or  lines  on  or  near  the  surface,  where 
the  prodigious  strain  forced  a  break. 
That  these  upheavals  were  most  prom- 
inent and  extended  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
great  masses  and  heights  of  land  are 
grouped  there ;  and  the  trend  of  moun- 
tain-ranges seems  to  show  that  the  range 
of  breakage  and  upheaval  was  in  general 
in  north-and-south  lines.  Elsewhere, 
and  mainly  in  the  southern  hemisphere, 
broad  areas  of  perhaps  stiffer  crust  sank 
downward,  making  the  vast  depressions 
into  which  poured  the  waters  of  the 
primeval  sea,  and  where  our  oceans  still 
sway  and  roll. 

All    these    changes,    however,    have 
been   in  the  direction  of  insuring  more        surf  at  fort  dumpling,  r.  i. 


4  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

and  more  stability ;  and  when  the  ocean  water  had  thoroughly  cooled,  the 
very  chill  of  its  vast  masses  in  the  depths  of  the  troughs  assisted  in  the 
work,  for  the  cold  water,  by  more  rapidly  withdrawing  their  heat,  caused 
the  rocks  beneath  their  basins  to  become  denser,  thicker,  stronger,  and 
consequently  less  liable  to  break  or  change,  than  were  those  rocks  forming 
the  foundations  of  the  continents. 

The  moment  it  had  shores  to  beat  upon,  that  moment  the  ocean  began 
to  knock  them  to  pieces  under  its  pounding  surf,  and  to  grind  the  frag- 
ments so  small  that  they  could  be  drifted  away,  reassorted,  and  deposited 
wherever  the  water  was  sufficiently  quiet  to  let  them  fall.  The  original 
rocks  —  chiefly  granite  —  held  the  different  forms  of  lime,  magnesia,  etc., 
to  make  the  limestones ;  the  silica  to  make  the  gritty  sandstones  ;  the  alu- 
mina to  make  the  clays ;  and  so  on.  The  sea  not  only  was  the  agent  to 
eat  this  old,  rich  crust  to  pieces  and  respread  it  into  strata,  but  to  sort  out 
for  us  the  materials  to  a  considerable  extent,  laying  down  beds  of  lime- 
stone by  themselves,  and  sandstone,  shales,  marl,  etc.,  by  themselves.  It 
is  probable,  says  Professor  Shaler,  that  layers  of  rock  twenty  miles  in 
thickness  have  thus  been  laid  down  on  the  gradually  settling  ocean  floor, 
much  of  which  has  been  raised  again  to  form  continental  lands. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  of  the  waters  that  surround  the  continents  as 
if  they  formed  one  mass,  as,  practically,  they  do  ;  but  for  convenience' 
sake  we  may  designate  certain  areas  by  separate  names,  which  ought  now 
to  be  defined.  Thus  the  larger,  more  open  spaces  are  known  as  oceans, 
and  of  these  five  are  recognized,  namely,  Pacific,  Atlantic,  Indian,  Arctic, 
and  Antarctic.  Parts  or  branches  of  these,  more  or  less  inclosed  by  land 
and  usually  comparatively  shallow,  are  termed  seas. 

The  Pacific  Ocean  is  the  largest,  it  alone  covering  more  space  than 
all  the  continents  combined,  having  a  breadth,  east  and  west,  of  ten 
thousand  miles  (about  the  length  of  the  Atlantic),  and  an  area  of 
seventy  million  square  miles.  The  equator  divides  it  into  the  North  and 
South  Pacific.  The  former  is  comparatively  free  from  islands,  and  is  in- 
closed northward  by  the  approaching  extremities  of  Alaska  and  Siberia ; 
while  the  latter  widens  at  the  south  into  the  boundless  Antarctic  Ocean. 
Its  basin  is  a  vast  depression  of  fairly  uniform  depth,  studded  in  the  western 
part  by  island  peaks, — the  summits  of  submerged  volcanic  mountain-ranges. 
The  name  "Pacific,"  or  "Peaceful,"  was  given  to  it  by  Magalhaens  (Ma- 
gellan), its  first  navigator,  in  1540  (see  Chapter  IV),  in  his  joy  at  having 
escaped  from  the  tempestuous  experience  he  had  long  endured  in  the  South 
Atlantic.  On  the  whole  the  Pacific  deserves  its  name  as  compared  with  the 
Atlantic  —  a  fact  chiefly  due  to  its  great  size.     The  term  "  South  Sea"  was 


THE    OCEAN    AND    ITS    ORIGIN 


PERCfi   ROCK,   IN   THE   GULF   OF   ST.    LAWRENCE,   SHOWING 
DESTRUCTION   OF   SHORE-ROCKS   BY   WATER. 

formerly  much  used  for  it,  but  English-speaking  persons  now  usually  mean 
by  that  phrase  the  island-studded  district  between  Hawaii  and  Australia. 

The  Atlantic  commemorates  in  its  name  the  myth  of  Atlas  and  his  island. 
Atlas  seems  to  have  been  originally,  among  the  Greeks,  the  name  of  the 
Peak  of  Tenerife,  of  which  they  had  vague  information  from  the   earlier 


6  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

Phenician  sea-wanderers.  Then  this  was  forgotten,  and  in  place  of  the 
fact  arose  a  myth  of  a  Titan  who  stood  upon  a  vast  island  in  or  beyond  the 
"Western  Sea,"  called  Atlantis.  Legends  of  wars  with  its  people  form 
a  part  of  the  nebulous  hero-story  of  the  beginnings  of  Athens  ;  and  it  is 
said  to  have  sunk  out  of  sight  long  before  records  began.  There  have 
always  been  those  who  believed  this  story  founded  upon  fact,  and  only 
a  few  years  ago  a  book  was  printed  in  the  United  States  arguing  that  the 
tale  was  the  history  of  a  real  land ;  but  not  only  is  there  no  literary  or 
historical  evidence  that  Atlantis  had  any  firmer  foundation  than  vague 
memories  of  the  Cape  Verd  or  Canary  Islands,  but  every  evidence  of 
the  geological  condition  and  history  of  the  eastern  shores  and  bed  of  the 
middle  Atlantic  Ocean  shows  that  no  such  convulsion  as  the  destruction 
of  this  island  calls  for  ever  took  place  there,  or  that  there  was  ever  such 
a  land  to  be  submerged.  The  Atlantic  occupies  a  long,  winding,  com- 
paratively narrow  trough,  that  measures  about  ten  thousand  miles  north  and 
south,  from  the  ice  of  the  Antarctic  to  the  ice  of  the  Arctic  ocean,  and  has 
only  a  few  islets  south  of  Iceland,  the  Faroes  and  the  Shetlands,  which  rise 
from  a  plateau  stretching  from  Labrador  to  Great  Britain,  the  higher  points 
of  which  were  probably  above  the  water  within  comparatively  recent  geo- 
logical times,  possibly  since  man  appeared  upon  the  globe.  The  average 
depth  of  the  Atlantic  south  of  this  ridge  is  about  thirteen  thousand  feet, 
but  greater  depths  are  found  along  the  African  and  American  coasts,  on 
each  side  of  a  long  submerged  ridge  from  which  rise  the  isolated  islands 
of  Cape  Verd,  St.  Helena,  and  Tristan  da  Cunha.  The  width  from 
Norway  to  Greenland  is  only  about  eight  hundred  miles,  but  between 
Montevideo  and  Cape  Town  it  is  thirty-six  hundred  miles,  and  the  aver- 
age width  is  about  three  thousand  miles.  The  shape  and  situation  of  the 
Atlantic  make  it  the  most  stormy  of  the  three  great  oceans,  and  it  is  the 
one  where  the  phenomena  of  tides,  currents,  etc.,  are  most  prominently  mani- 
fested, as  we  shall  see.  It  is  also  the  most  frequented  and  best  known,  be- 
cause it  has  been  necessary  to  study  it  for  the  benefit  of  commerce. 

The  Indian  Ocean  is  simply  the  extension  of  the  vast  southern  water- 
zone  northward  of  parallel  40°,  south  latitude,  where,  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  to  Tasmania,  it  is  six  thousand  miles  in  width.  At  this  line  the  depth 
suddenly  decreases,  as  though  the  edge  of  a  submerged  Antarctic  plateau 
defined  the  southerly  rim  of  its  basin  there.  This  ocean  contains  several 
large  and  some  groups  of  small  islands,  but  these  are  mostly  near  the 
shore,  and  connected  with  the  neighboring  continent  by  shallow  waters, 
showing  that  they  rise  from  a  submerged  plateau.  The  average  depth 
of  the  Indian  Ocean  is  about  fourteen  thousand  feet;  its  surface-water  is 


THE    OCEAN    AND    ITS    ORIGIN  7 

warmer  and  salter  than  that  of  any  other ;  and  its  winds  and  weather  are 
more  regular  and  peaceful  than  in  either  the  Atlantic  or  the  North  Pacific. 

The  Arctic  Ocean  is  the  well-defined  body  of  water  around  and  probably 
over  the  north  pole.  It  is  connected  with  the  Pacific  only  by  the  narrow 
and  very  shallow  Bering  Strait,  and  with  the  Atlantic  by  comparatively  nar- 
row openings.  It  has  been  fairly  well  explored  as  far  north  as  the  parallel 
of  80°,  and  found  to  contain  many  islands ;  but  it  appears  that  there  is 
great  depth  of  water  north  of  Spitzbergen  and  northeast  of  Greenland, 
making  it  probable  that  the  trough  of  the  Atlantic  reaches  to  or  beyond 
the  pole  itself.      Most  of  its  area  is  covered  with  drifting  'ice. 

The  Antarctic  Ocean  is  regarded  as  the  space  of  water  within  the  Ant- 
arctic circle ;  but  this  is  surrounded  by  a  zone  of  deep  ocean,  unbroken 
almost  half-way  to  the  equator,  except  by  the  narrow  southern  part  of  South 
America  and  by  New  Zealand.  It  is  an  area,  apparently  rather  shallow,  of 
i(ie,  fogs,  and  tempestuous  gales,  inclosing  lands  of  unknown  extent. 

But  these  geographical  distinctions  are  merely  convenient  methods 
of  speech.  After  all,  there  is  only  one  ocean  "  poured  round  all,"  and  its 
particles  are  incessantly  changed  in  place  and  remingled  by  means  of  a 
world-wide  system  of  tides  and  currents,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  keep  sea- 
water  everywhere  uniform  in  character  and  perfectly  pure  and  healthful. 


WAVE-WORN   CLIFFS  AND   PEBBLE-BEACH   AT   ETRETAT,  FRANCE. 

(FROM   A   PAINTING   BY   WILLIAM  P.   W.    DANA.) 


IN   MID-OCEAN:    A   GREAT  WAVE. 


CHAPTER   II 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS 

OW  that  we  have  studied  the  ancient  ocean,  it  is  time  to 
study  its  present  characteristics  and  understand  the  great 
and  important  part  it  plays  in  the  world. 

A  very  striking  thing  about  the  ocean  is  its  flatness. 
Being  water,  it  seeks  always  to  find  its  level ;  and  we  com- 
monly assume  that  it  everywhere  does  so,  and  take  the  sea- level  as  the 
standard  from  which  to  calculate  all  heights  above  or  depths  below 
its  surface ;  that  is,  we  assume  that  every  part  of  the  surface  of  the 
ocean  when  calm  and  at  mean  tide  is  exactly  the  same  distance  from  the 
center  of  the  globe.  This,  however,  is  not  wholly  true.  Careful  observa- 
tion has  shown  that  the  Pacific  is  several  feet  lower  on  the  western  shore  of 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien  than  is  the  Atlantic  on  its  eastern  shore  —  a  fact 
due,  no  doubt,  to  the  crowding  of  water  by  the  Gulf  Stream  into  the  Carib- 
bean Sea.  The  Mediterranean  is  known  to  be  somewhat  higher  than  the 
Atlantic,  and  other  differences  exist  in  similar  places  elsewhere. 

This  introduces  the  subject  of  depth  —  a  matter  which  we  have  learned 
accurately  only  within  a  very  few  years.  In  the  early  days  ropes  alone 
were  used  for  sounding,  and  these  had  to  be  of  considerable  size  to  bear  the 
strain  ;  but  a  mile  or  so  of  rope  became  too  heavy  to  handle,  and  depths 
below  that  length  remained  unmeasured.  Then  a  little  machine  was  tried 
consisting  of  a  heavy  weight  having  attached  to  it,  by  a  trigger,  a  wooden 
float.  This  was  thrown  overboard.  It  sank,  and  when  it  touched  bottom 
the  shock  released  the  float.  From  the  time  that  elapsed  before  the  float 
reappeared  the  depth  was  estimated.  This,  however,  was  little  better  than 
guesswork ;  and  accurate  soundings  exceeding  one  thousand  fathoms  were 
not  obtained  until  an  American  naval  officer  began  to  use  wire  instead  of 
rope.  From  this  hint  was  developed  elaborate  machinery,  operated  by 
steam,  using  steel  piano-wire,  having  automatic  registers  of  the  amount 
reeled  out,  and  carried  down  by  weights  that  were  released  when  the  bot- 


lO 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


torn  was  struck,  making  it  easier  to  recover  the  v/ire.  To  these  weights 
(or  rather  to  the  wire  just  above  them)  were  attached  devices  for  clutching 
and  bringing  to  the  surface  specimens  of  the  bottom,  self-closing  jars  to 
fetch  water  from  the  lowest  layer,  self- registering  thermometers  that  re- 
corded the  temperatures 
at  the  greatest  or  at  va- 
rious intermediate  depths, 
and  other  means  of  learn- 
ing the  character  of  the 
water,  bottom-material, 
and  animal  life  several 
miles  below  the  surface, 
including  methods  of  pho- 
tographing by  aid  of  a 
submerged  electric  light. 
Such  investigations,  car- 
ried on  in  ships  suitably 
equipped,  have  been  pro- 
secuted by  several  gov- 
ernments, most  notably 
by  the  expedition  of  the 
Challenger,  a  British  sur- 
veying-ship which  cir- 
cumnavigated the  globe 
during  the  years  from 
1872  to  1876. 

This  and  many  other 
expeditions  have  sounded 
in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  explored  large  tracts 
where  the  water  uniformly 
exceeded  three  miles  in 
depth.  The  United  States 
ship  Enterprise,  after 
passing  the  Chatham  Is- 
lands in  her  run  from 
New  Zealand  to  the  Strait 
of    Magellan,     found    the 

SEA-CAVE  NEAR  GIANT'S  CAUSEWAY.  ^^^^^    everywhere    more 

NORTH  OF  IRELAND.  than     thirteen     thousand 


WAVES,   TIDES,  AND    CURRENTS  II 

feet  deep.  Throughout  her  run  from  Montevideo  to  New  York  the  water 
varied  from  twelve  to  eighteen  thousand  feet  deep,  and  Captain  Nares  and 
Admiral  Belknap  found  like  depths  over  equally  vast  breadths  elsewhere. 

Yet  even  in  these  basins  more  profound  pits  and  valleys  exist.  Several 
places  are  known  near  Japan  and  off  Porto  Rico  exceeding  five  miles  in 
depth ;  and  an  English  officer  sounded  29,400  feet  in  the  southern  Pacific 
Ocean,  nineteen  hundred  miles  east  of  Brisbane,  without  finding  bottom. 

The  average  depth  of  all  the  oceans  is  estimated  at  from  twelve  thousand 
to  fifteen  thousand  feet.  As,  according  to  Humboldt,  the  average  height 
of  the  lands  of  the  globe  is  only  about  one  thousand  feet,  it  will  be  seen 
that  all  the  land  now  above  the  water,  and  its  foundations,  could  be  shoveled 
into  the  ocean  troughs  and  still  leave  water  more  than  two  miles  in  depth 
covering  the  whole  planet. 

The  soundings  and  dredgings  of  which  I  have  spoken  enable  us  to  make 
a  tolerable  map  of  the  ocean  beds  and  to  describe  their  features.  All  the 
continents  are  bordered  by  a  shelf  reaching  out  under  the  shallow  shore- 
water  to  a  greater  or  less  distance,  and  then  dropping,  usually  with  much 
abruptness,  to  the  ocean  trough.  This  shelf,  perhaps  originally  a  jiart  of  the 
primeval  continent,  bears  most  of  the  great  islands  near  continents,  such  as 
Newfoundland,  the  West  Indies,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Madagascar, 
the  Aleutian,  Japanese,  and  Philippine  groups,  the  Malay  Archipelago,  and 
others.  If  you  will  look  at  a  map  that  has  marked  upon  it  the  line  of  one 
thousand  fathoms'  depth  along  the  shores  of  the  various  continents,  you  will 
find  it  reaching  far  out  from  the  eastern  shores  of  both  Americas,  the  western 
and  northern  shores  of  Europe,  the  eastern  shores  of  South  Africa,  prolong- 
ing India  hundreds  of  miles,  and  embracing  great  spaces  among  the  East 
Indies,  while  even  the  hundred-fathom  line  would  connect  many  an  island 
with  the  mainland  or  with  some  other  island,  as  they  actually  have  been 
connected  in  times  gone  by.  The  fact  is,  there  is  not  a  single  proper 
mountain-peak  rising  out  of  deep  water  at  any  great  distance  from  the 
margins  of  the  continents.  All  the  numerous  islands  of  the  wide  oceans 
are  either  coral  reefs  or  the  summits  of  volcanic  cones. 

Upon  this  shelf,  and  for  the  most  part  within  two  hundred  miles  of  the 
coast,  are  deposited  all  of  the  rnaterials  torn  from  the  land  by  the  sea  or 
brought  down  by  rivers  or  glaciers,  excepting  the  very  finest,  which  currents 
may  float  somewhat  farther  out,  and  also  excepting  the  rocks  that  icebergs 
carry  away  and  drop  in  mid-ocean ;  but  this  is  not  a  great  amount,  for  most 
icebergs  strand  on  the  shallows  off  Newfoundland  or  in  Bering  Sea. 

Almost  nothing  from  the  shores,  therefore,  reaches  the  central  depths  of 
the  open  oceans,  whose  beds  are  in  substantially  the  same  condition  that 


12 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


they  were  in  at  the  beginning,  except  for  two  things  —  volcanic  upheavals 
in  some  places,  and  the  remains  of  animal  life  everywhere.  The  former  ex- 
ception is  a  very  important  one,  since  it  is  now  known,  according  to  Pro- 
fessor Shaler,  that  volcanoes,  by  their  eruptions,  send  more  dust  and  broken 
materials  to  the  seas  than  the  rivers  and  shores  combined. 

"Although  the  deeper  sea-floors  probably  lack  mountains,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Shaler,  "  they  are  not  without  striking  reliefs,  which,  if  they  could 


THE   VOLCANO   KRAKATOA   (SUNDA   STRAIT)    IN   ERUPTION    IN    1883. 


be  seen,  would  present  all  the  dignity  which  their  size  gives  to  the  Hima- 
layas or  Andes :  the  difference  is  that  these  elevations  are  not  true  moun- 
tains, but  volcanic  peaks,  sometimes  isolated,  again  accumulated  in  long, 
narrow  ridges,  but  all  made  up  of  matter  poured  out  from  the  craters  or 
through  great  fissures  in  the  crust.  So  numerous  are  these  heaped  masses 
of  lava  and  other  ejections  from  these  vents  that  there  is  hardly  any  con- 
siderable area  of  the  oceans  where  they  do  not  rise  above  the  surface. 
There  are  indeed  thousands  of  these  volcanic  peaks  distributed  from  pole 
to  pole.  .  .  .  Thus  on  the  floor  of  the  North  Atlantic  there  is  evidently  a 
long,  irregular  chain  of  these  elevations  extending  from  the  Icelandic  group 
of  islands  southward  to  the  Azores.  If  an  explorer  could  view  this  part 
of  the  sea-bottom,  he  would  probably  find  that  the  line  of  craters  was  as 
continuous  as  that  exhibited  by  the  volcanoes  of  the  Andes. 


WAVES,   TIDES,   AND  CURRENTS  1 3 

"Besides  the  volcanic  peaks,"  Professor  Shaler  continues,  "the  sea- 
bottom  in  certain  parts  of  the  tropics  ...  is  beset  with  the  singular  ele- 
vations formed  by  coral  reefs."  But  of  these  I  shall  have  more  to  say 
toward  the  end  of  the  book,  and  I  allude  to  them  here  only  as  a  feature 
of  the  invisible  landscape  beneath  the  waves. 

Over  the  vast,  gently  undulating  spaces  separating  these  submerged 
lines  of  volcanoes  and  the  ridges  of  coral,  lies  a  mat  of  mud  of  unknown 
thickness,  which  naturalists  term  "ooze."  It  is  principally  composed  of 
volcanic  dust  and  of  the  microscopic  "tests,"  or  flinty  or  limy  skeletons,  of 
minute  animals,  few  of  which  are  large  enough  to  be  seen  by  the  unaided 
eye.  "  Dwelling  in  myriads  in  the  superficial  parts  of  the  sea,  these 
foraminifera,  as  they  are  termed,  sink  at  death  to  the  bottom,  over  which 
they  accumulate  a  thick  coating  of  minutely  divided  limestone  powder, 
forming  a  layer  of  ooze  as  unsubstantial  as  the  finest  snow." 

In  regions  like  the  North  Atlantic  this  ooze  consists  almost  wholly  of 
such  animal  matter ;  but  in  other  regions,  such  as  the  South  Pacific,  where 
volcanoes  prevail,  it  is  constantly  and  largely  increased  by  an  enormous 
quantity  of  mineral  matter  hurled  broadcast  by  volcanoes,  all  of  which  are 
on  islands  or  near  sea-coasts.  A  part  of  this  is  the  merest  dust,  which 
slowly  settles  from  the  air,  perhaps  hundreds  of  miles  from  where  it  was 
ejected.  A  larger  part  consists  of  that  spongy  lava  called  pumice,  which  is 
so  full  of  holes  filled  with  air  and  gases  that  it  may  float  half  way  around 
the  globe  before  it  sinks,  as  happened  after  the  explosion  of  Krakatoa. 

Into  the  oceanic  ooze,  too,  sinks  so  much  of  all  dead  fishes  and  other 
mid-sea  animals  as  is  not  dissolved  or  devoured  before  reaching  it;  and 
it  forms  the  grave  of  thousands  of  men.  It  is  often  said  that  ships  and 
other  things  would  not  sink  far,  but  would  float,  suspended  by  dense 
water  or  some  miraculous  influence,  only  a  few  hundred  or  a  few  thousand 
feet  below  the  surface,  for  no  one  knows  how  long.  But  this  eerie  notion 
has  no  foundation  in  fact.  "  No  other  fate,"  we  are  assured  by  those  who 
know,  "awaits  the  drowned  sailor  or  his  ship  than  that  which  comes  to  the 
marine  creatures  who  die  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  In  time  their  dust  all 
passes  into  the  great  storehouse  of  the  earth,  even  as  those  who  receive  burial 
on  land."     Wooden  wrecks  probably  last  much  longer  than  those  of  iron. 

I  have  mentioned  that  a  small  part  of  what  the  sea  tears  away  from  the 
land,  or  receives  from  rivers,  winds,  and  other  sources,  is  dissolved  in  its 
waters,  which  now  contain,  no  doubt,  samples  of  every  ingredient  of  the 
rocks  and  soils  of  the  dry  land,  and  very  likely  some  elements  not  yet 
detected.  This  solvent  power  of  the  sea  explains  its  saltness,  and  it  must 
go  on  growing  more  and  more  bitter  as  long  as  its  waves  grind  at  the 


14  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

shores  and  the  rivers  run  down.  The  salinity  varies  in  degree,  water 
at  great  depths  being  salter  than  that  near  the  surface,  and  excelHng  in 
saltness  where  evaporation  is  rapid,  as  under  the  trade-winds,  while  fresher 
in  the  regions  of  equatorial  calms,  where  an  immense  amount  of  rain  falls ; 
broadly,  the  lightest  (freshest)  water  is  found  at  the  equator,  and  the 
heaviest  in  the  temperate  regions.  Inclosed,  or  nearly  inclosed,  areas  be- 
come very  salt.  Thus  the  Dead  Sea  is  what  chemists  call  a  saturated  so- 
lution, being  nearly  one  third  (28  per  cent.)  salt,  and  Great  Salt  Lake  in 
Utah  is  not  far  behind.  The  Red  Sea  contains  4  per  cent,  and  some 
parts  of  the  Mediterranean  nearly  as  much.  Taking  all  the  open  oceans 
together,  about  3/^  in  every  100  parts  (3^^  per  cent.)  is  composed  of  vari- 
ous salts,  more  than  three  quarters  of  which  is  common  salt  (chloride 
of  sodium),  and  the  remainder  mainly  forms  of  magnesium.  One  of  the 
Challenger  authors  has  estimated  that  the  oceans  contain  enough  salt  to 
make  a  layer  1 70  feet  thick  over  their  whole  area,  and  another  writer  says 
that  the  amount,  if  heaped  up,  would  be  four  times  larger  than  the  whole 
bulk  of  Europe  above  the  level  of  high-water  mark,  mountains  and  all. 

In  early  times,  indeed,  sea- water,  which  yields  about  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  crystallized  salt  per  gallon,  was  almost  the  only  source  of  salt 
for  food.  Even  yet  it  is  the  principal  source  of  supply  for  the  manufacture 
of  commercial  salt  in  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  Italy,  Austria,  the  West 
Indies,  and  Central  and  South  America;  and  it  is  largely  used  in  Holland, 
Belgium,  and  Great  Britain.  The  early  process,  still  extensively  practised 
in  some  parts  of  Europe,  was  to  admit  the  sea-water  to  large  partitioned 
flats  floored  with  clay,  where  it  evaporated  rapidly.  The  salt-crystals  re- 
maining were  then  collected,  purified  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and  sold 
off-hand.  It  was  by  similar  means  that  our  great-grandfathers  in  New 
England  and  along  the  Southern  coasts  provided  themselves  with  satt,  only 
they  used  large  vats  arranged  over  fires  instead  of  earthen  basins  exposed 
to  the  sun. 

But  analysis  of  sea- water  discloses  small  quantities  of  many  other  recog- 
nizable minerals.  Silica  must  be  there  to  supply  the  needs  of  many  fora- 
minifers,  sponges,  and  other  animals ;  lime  in  various  forms  exists,  or  else 
such  sea  animals  as  mollusks  could  not  compose  their  shells,  nor  polyps 
erect  their  enormous  reefs ;  bromine  is  present,  and  to  the  iodine  and  other 
mineral  dyes  in  the  water  we  owe  the  lovely  purples,  crimsons,  and  scarlets 
paintinc^  corallines,  seaweeds,  echinoderms,  and  some  molluscan  shells,  as 
that  of  the  Sargasso-snail  (Janthina). 

As  for  gold  and  silver,  both  are  present.  I  have  seen  it  stated  that  a 
voyage  of  a  year  or  two  is  su,fficient  to  permit  the  formation  of  a  film  of 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS 


15 


silver  all  over  the  copper  sheathing  of  a  ship's  bottom,  so  that  a  frigate  re- 
turning from  a  long  cruise  is  really  silver-plated ;  but  I  fancy  this  is  more 
a  matter  of  imagination  than  visible  reality.  Gold,  in  certain  chemical  com- 
binations, certainly  exists  in  sea-water,  and  may  be  extracted  therefrom. 
Up  to  the  present,  however,  the  cost  of  the  extraction  has  been  more  than 
the  precious  metal  obtained  was  worth.     Gold  is  often  washed  from  sea-sand. 

The  ceaseless  restlessness  of  the  ocean  forms  another  of  the  greatest 
contrasts  between  it  and  the  immovable  land  —  terra  firma,  as  those  like 
to  call  it  who  have  been 
tossing  too  long  on  the 
"rolling  deep."  This 
characteristic  restless- 
ness involves  some  of 
the  most  important  and 
interesting  facts  in  phy- 
sical geography;  for  were 
the  waters  still, — that  is, 
were  the  oceans  simply 
huge,  quiet  ponds, — 
none  of  that  action  could 
take  place  along  the 
shores  which  has  been 
so  important  an  agent 
in  shaping  the  world  and 
making  it  a  suitable  place 
for  human  habitation  and 
social  development. 

On  a  planet  with  an 
atmosphere  and  chang- 
ing seasons   like   ours,  however,   a  stagnant  ocean  is  as  impossible  as  a 
motionless  air ;  indeed,  it  is  because  the  air  is  always  in  motion  that  large 
bodies  of  water  are  never  at  rest,  for  it  is  the  changing  density  and  temper- 
ature and  movements  (winds)  of  the  air  that  produce  waves  and  currents. 

Waves  are  caused  by  the  pressure  and  friction  of  the  wind  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  as  you  may  readily  see  at  any  pond ;  and  the  water  in 
them  simply  rises  and  falls,  driving  forward  a  little  at  the  very  surface  so  as 
to  cause  a  gentle  current  called  wind-drift.  When  the  waves  approach 
the  shallow,  sloping  border  of  the  land  they  are  checked  at  the  bottom  by 
the  slope  of  the  beach,  while  the  freer  upper  part  goes  forward,  and  the 
waves  speedily  lose  their  rounded  form  and  become  more  and  more  sharply 


A   FIORD,   OR   DEEP   CREVICE   W^ORN   IN   SEA-CLIFFS. 


1 6  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

ridged  and  steep  on  the  front  side  as  they  sweep  on  until  at  last  they  pitch 
forward  in  the  crash  and  thunder  of  surf. 

In  the  open  ocean  the  waves  are  usually  doing  little  work  except  to 
cause  the  surface  to  rise  and  fall.  The  harder  the  wind  blows,  the  higher 
the  waves  become,  and  the  faster  they  travel.  This  speed  has  been  calcu- 
lated, and  has  been  found  to  be  proportionate  to  size. 

"Waves  200  feet  long  from  hollow  to  hollow,"  we  are  told,  "travel 
about  19  knots  per  hour;  those  of  4CX)  feet  in  length  make  27  knots;  and 
those  of  600  feet  rush  forward  irresistibly  at  32  knots."  These,  of  course, 
are  under  the  furious  impulse  of  a  gale,  and  it  is  marvelous  that  ships  can 
be  made  to  ride  over  them  ;  nor  is  it  any  wonder  that  excited  mariners 
clinging  to  the  bulwarks  of  some  small  and  heeling  craft,  should  call  them 
"  mountain  high,"  and  declare  in  all  seriousness  that  they  have  seen  their 
crests  rising  one  hundred  feet  above  their  hollows.  No  such  altitude,  nor 
half  of  it,  probably,  is  ever  reached  by  a  storm-wave  in  the  heaviest  cyclone. 
An  excellent  authority,  Lieutenant  Qualtrough,  assures  us  that  the  highest 
trustworthy  measurements  are  from  forty-four  to  forty-eight  feet.  The 
height  of  a  wave  depends  upon  what  mariners  call  its  "  fetch  " —  that  is,  its 
distance  from  the  place  where  the  waves  began  to  form.  This  has  been 
worked  out  mathematically  by  Thomas  Stevenson  (father  of  the  late  Rob- 
ert Louis  Stevenson,  the  novelist),  an  eminent  engineer  and  designer  of 
lighthouses,  who  gives  the  following  formula :  "  The  height  of  the  wave  in 
feet  is  equal  to  i  Yz  multiplied  by  the  square  root  of  the  fetch  in  nautical 
miles."  If  the  waves  began  100  miles  away  from  your  ship,  the  waves 
about  you  will  be  15  feet  high,  because  the  square  root  of  100  is  10,  and 
one  and  a  half  times  10  is  15  (feet).  The  highest  waves  are  not  formed  in 
the  greatest  tempests,  which  beat  down  their  crests,  but  when  the  gale  is 
both  very  strong  and  long  continued.  The  worst  "seas,"  as  sailors  call  big 
waves,  are  those  met  with  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Cape   Horn. 

The  depth  to  which  wave  disturbance  extends  depends  on  the  violence 
of  the  wind,  and  near  shore  upon  the  slope  of  the  bottom.  Prestwich  tells 
us  that  pebbles  may  sometimes  be  moved  at  the  depth  of  one  hundred  feet, 
and  sand  much  deeper,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  bottom  is  disturbed 
in  heavy  storms  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland. 

The  weight  and  power  of  such  on-rushing  masses  of  water  are  tremen- 
dous, as  appears  from  the  effect  on  coasts  where  they  strike  ;  but  this  opens 
up  a  subject  which  is  too  large  for  treatment  here,  and  I  must  refer  readers 
to  geological  treatises,  and  to  such  special  works  as  Professor  N.  S.  Shaler's 
excellent  "  Sea  and  Land,"  where  the  work  of  the  ocean  in  tearing  down  and 
building  up  its  coasts  is  fully  and  entertainingly  explained.     I  shall  have 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS 


17 


LOW   TIDE,   ST.  JOHN'S   HARBOR,    N.    B. 

something  more  to  say  on  this  point,  also,  when  I  come  to  the  chapter 
"  Dangers  of  the  Deep,"  and  speak  of  the  terrible  destruction  caused 
by  earthquakes,  and  in  certain  other  agitations  of  the  sea  not  due  to  the 
wind,  and  often  styled  "tidal  waves."  There  is  only  one  kind  of  "tidal 
wave,"  properly  speaking,  however;  and  this  is  a  theoretical  rather  than  an 
actual  one,  perceptible  usually  only  in  that  rising  and  falling  of  the  water 
along  coasts  twice  each  twenty-four  hours  that  we  call  the  flow  and  ebb  of 
the  tides ;  and  here  we  see  the  effect  rather  than  the  thing  itself 

The  tide  has  been  an  inevitable  circumstance  of  the  existence  on 
the  earth  of  the  ocean,  or  any  other  great  body  of  water,  ever  since 
its  origin,  yet  it  was  not  until  Sir  Isaac  Newton  made  us  comprehend 
the  law  of  gravitation  that  its  mystery  was  explained.  We  now  know 
with  certainty  —  if  you  want  the  mathematical  formulae  and  so  forth, 
consult  some  good  modern  encyclopaedia  under  the  word  tide  —  that  this 
.periodical  rising  and  falling  of  the  sea  is  due  to  the  attraction  of  the  sun 
and  moon, —  to  the  last  three  times  as  much  as  to  the  first,  because  it  is  so 
much  nearer.  This  attraction  is  exerted  toward  the  globe  as  a  whole ;  and 
its  visible  effect  upon  the  movable  water  is  to  lift  it  bodily  on  that  side 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


nearest  the  moon,  and  at  the  same  time  to  pull  away  the  earth  from  the 
water  on  the  opposite  side,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing;  and  thus  high 
tides  are  simultaneously  produced  at  these  antipodes,  which  accounts  for 
the  two  a  day.  At  the  same  time,  however,  the  intermediate  spaces  have 
low  tides  caused  by  an  attraction  there  toward  the  center  of  the  earth. 
"There  are  thus  always  simultaneously  and  directly  under  the  moon  two 
high  waters  opposite  each  other,   and  two  low  waters  at  equal  distances 

between  them.  Owing  to 
the  rotation  of  the  earth, 
this  permanent  system  of 
swells  and  troughs  trav- 
els from  east  to  west  over 
every  part  of  the  ocean 
and  of  its  coast,  and  ex- 
plains the  regular  succes- 
sion of  rising  and  falling 
waters,  at  equal  intervals 
of  time,  which  we  call  the 
tides." 

But  the  sun  also  ex- 
erts a  similar  but  lesser 
influence,  producing  four 
daily  solar  tides,  which 
most  of  the  time  are  lost 
to  view  in  the  greater 
lunar  tides.  When,  how- 
ever, the  moon  gets  into 
line  with  the  earth  and 
the  sun,  so  that  both  the 
heavenly  bodies  pull  to- 
gether like  a  tandem  team, 
as  happens  twice  a  month, —  at  new  moon  and  full  moon, —  their  combined' 
action  causes  unusually  high  water,  which  is  the  sum  of  the  lunar  and  solar 
tides,  and  is  called  the  spring  tide.  High  water  is  then  highest,  and  low 
water  lowest.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  midst  of  these  fortnightly  inter- 
vals, when  the  moon  is  at  its  first  or  third  quarter,  the  sun  is  a  full  quarter 
of  the  heavens  (90^)  away  from  the  moon.  Its  influence,  therefore,  acts  at 
right  angles  to  or  practically  against  that  of  the  moon,  and  the  solar  tides 
go  to  swell  the  low  waters  and  diminish  the  high  waters,  forming  what 
sailors  call  neap  tides, — preserving  an  old  English  word  meaning  loiv. 


THE   EARl'HQUAKE-WAVE   PASSING   OVER   THE 
LIGHTHOUSE   ON   POINT  ANJER. 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS  1 9 

Now  remember  that  the  globe  is  not  standing  still,  even  while  we 
make  these  explanations,  but  is  revolving  at  a  tremendous  speed,  so  that 
the  water  under  the  moon  lifted  by  lunar  attraction  is  changing  place  every 
instant  at  the  rate  of  over  one  thousand  miles  an  hour,  and  you  have  the 
conception  of  a  low  wave  on  each  side  of  the  earth,  reaching  north  and 
south,  highest  and  swiftest  on  the  equator  and  diminishing  toward  the 
poles.  These  are  the  true  tidal  waves.  Were  the  globe  covered  with  an 
unbroken  mantle  of  water,  such  waves,  each  about  twenty  inches  (or  twenty- 
nine  inches  at  springtide)  high  on  the  average  at  the  equator,  would  follow 
one  another  round  and  round  the  earth  at  the  rate  of  one  complete  circuit 
in  every  twenty-four  hours.  That  must  have  been  the  case  in  the  primeval 
ocean  before  any  continents  existed ;  and  something  of  it  still  exists  in  the 
belt  of  unobstructed  water  surrounding  the  Antarctic  continent  of  ice.  It 
would  then  be  flood  tide  or  ebb  tide  at  the  same  hour  along  the  whole 
length  of  any  one  meridian.  But  in  the  present  condition  of  the  globe, 
where  the  oceans  are  separated  by  continents  and  broken  by  islands,  the 
progress  of  the  tidal  waves  is  obstructed,  deflected,  and  wholly  stopped  in 
a  great  variety  of  ways  and  places,  so  that  the  hours,  amount,  and  behavior 
of  the  tides  are  exceedingly  varied  in  different  regions,  and  are  often 
very  puzzling,  forming  one  of  the  most  difficult  matters  with  which  the 
practical  navigator  has  to  deal.  Interference  of  tidal  currents  forms  the 
Maelstrom,  off  the  coast  of  Norway,  whose  revolution  is  reversed  twice 
daily,  the  classic  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  in  the  Straits  of  Messina,  so 
much  dreaded  by  the  navigators  of  old,  and  many  other  whirlpools  of 
less  celebrity.  The  tidal  wave  sweeping  northward  across  the  Atlantic 
has  time  to  round  the  northern  end  of  Scotland  and  flood  the  German 
Ocean  with  southward  swelling  currents  before  the  rising  water  pouring 
into  the  southern  end  of  the  English  Channel  has  time  to  push  its  way 
through  that  narrow  and  shallow  passage ;  hence  the  two  floods  meet  in 
the  Straits  of  Dover,  which  accounts  for  the  miserable  chop-sea  so  sadly 
prevalent  in  that  unfortunate  bit  of  water. 

The  natural  height  of  the  tide  seems  to  be  from  two  to  five  feet,  as  shown 
in  the  midst  of  the  broad  Pacific.  "  But  when  dashing  against  the  land, 
and  forced  into  deep  gulfs  and  estuaries,"  to  quote  Professor  Simon  New- 
comb,  "the  accumulating  tide-waters  sometimes  reach  a  very  great  height. 
On  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America,  which  is  directly  in  the  path  of  the 
great  Atlantic  wave,  the  tide  rises  on  an  average  from  9  to  12  feet.  In  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  which  opens  its  bosom  to  receive  the  full  wave,  the  tide, 
which  at  the  entrance  is  18  feet,  rushes  with  great  fury  into  that  long  and 
narrow  channel,  and  swells  to  the  enormous  height  of  60  feet,  and  even  to 


20  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

70  feet  in  the  highest  spring  tides.  In  the  Bristol  Channel,  on  the  coast  of 
England,  the  spring  tides  rise  to  40  feet,  and  swell  to  50  in  the  English 
Channel  at  St.  Malo  on  the  coast  of  France." 

To  this  cause  is  also  due  in  some  degree  those  great  oceanic  currents 
which  form  another  striking  fact  in  the  history  of  the  sea ;  but  they  are 
mainly  due  to  temperature,  wind,  and  the  rotation  of  the  earth. 

The  drops  that  make  up  a  body  of  water  are  the  most  restless  things  in 
the  world ;  they  are  always  sliding  down  the  least  slope,  sinking  out  of  the 
way  of  lighter  substances,  rising  to  let  a  heavier  object  pass  beneath 
them,  or  moving  hither  and  thither  in  an  ever  hopeful  search  of  that  level- 
ness  and  quiet  that  we  call  equilibrium.  Furthermore,  when  water  is 
heated  it  becomes  lighter.  Should,  therefore,  a  portion  of  the  sea  grow 
warmer  than  the  remainder,  it  must  and  will  rise  to  the  surface ;  and  when- 
ever a  portion  becomes  cooled,  it  must  and  will  sink. 

Now,  under  the  continuous  blazing  sun  of  the  torrid  zone  the  sea-water 
near  the  surface  gets  fairly  warm, — having  an  average  temperature  of  about 
85°  along  the  equator, —  while  in  the  polar  regions  the  ocean  is  always 
chilled  by  permanent  or  floating  ice  until  it  is  nearly  cold  enough  to  freeze; 
but  these  masses  of  warm  and  cold  water  cannot  remain  separate  in  the 
universal  ocean.  The  hot  tropical  flood,  continually  rising,  must  flow  away 
somewhere  to  find  its  level;  and  it  can  flow  nowhere  except  toward  the 
poles,  for  there  the  ever-sinking  volume  of  chilled  and  therefore  heavier 
water  sucks  it  in  to  take  its  place,  while  it,  in  turn,  creeps  underneath 
toward  the  equator,  there  to  fill  the  gap  which  the  escaping  warm  water 
leaves  behind.  So  we  know  there  is  constantly  going  on  an  interchange 
of  water  —  a  constant  flowing  away  from  the  equator  northward  and  south- 
ward on  the  surface,  and  a  flowing  in  toward  the  equator  along  the  bot- 
tom ;  an  endless  springing  up  in  the  torrid  zone  and  a  steady  settling  down 
in  the  polar  seas.  One  out  of  many  proofs  of  this  fact  is  that  the  thalassal 
abysses  below  the  depth  of  a  mile  or  so  are  known  to  be  ice-cold.  This 
could  not  happen  unless  they  were  constantly  filled  and  refilled  with  new 
water  from  the  great  coolers  at  the  poles ;  for  if  the  water  at  those  depths 
should  remain  unchanged,  it  would  soon  become  ver)^  warm  from  the  heat 
of  the  interior  of  the  earth,  whence  it  does  constantly  extract  some  heat. 

But  while  this  invisible  vertical  circulation  is  going  on,  another  more 
visible  and  interesting  set  of  movements  is  in  progress  on  the  surface,  forming 
what  are  known  as  ocean  currents.  These  are  vast  rivers  in  the  ocean  flow- 
ing across  its  face  in  certain  directions  and  to  a  certain  depth,  as  rivers 
make  their  way  along  the  land.  They  begin  and  are  kept  going  mainly  by 
a  union  of  the  two  causes  already  explained  —  heat  and  wind. 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS 


21 


The  heat  of  the  sun  at  the  equator,  warming,  Hghtening,  and  evaporat- 
ing the  water,  constantly  tends  to  draw  the  colder  water  from  the  poles, 
most  copiously  from  the  South  Pole ;  but  the  Antarctic  water,  hastening  to 
the  equator,  is  soon  interrupted  by  the  extremities  of  Australia,  Africa,  and 
South  America,  and  so  split  into  three  great  branches.  That  which  passes 
into  the  South  Atlantic  goes  on    northward    along    the 

western  coast  of  Africa,     ^^^^^^^^^E^^^^^  part  of  it  becoming  so 

warm    under   the       ^^^B^U^^"^i    I  ^^^^^^^^      hot  sun  there  that 

itwillnotsink,  ^  [^^^^,      butconstantly 

comes  more  ^^^^^^.       and    more 


'"^ 


A   STEAMER   BORNE   ASHORE   BY 
AN   EARTHQUAKE-WAVE. 

to  the  surface,  until  it  strikes  against 
the  great  shoulder  of  Guinea  and  is 
turned  sharply  westward.  Now  it 
is  squarely  under  the  trade-wind 
and  headed  the  same  way ;  con- 
stantly urged  forward  by  this  mod- 
erate but  endless  tugging  of  the  wind  upon  its  waves,  the  current  can  never 
swerve,  but  flows  along  the  equator,  and  for  half  a  dozen  degrees  each  side 
of  it,  straight  across  the  Atlantic.  South  America,  however,  stands  in  its 
path,  and  the  wedge-like  coast  of  Brazil,  pointed  with  Cape  St.  Roque, 
splits  this  great  river.  Part  of  it  now  turns  southward  and  swings  back 
across  toward  Africa,  making  an  eddy  a  couple  of  thousand  miles  wide  in 
the  South  Atlantic,  while  another  arm  runs  down  the  Patagonian  coast. 
But  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  divided  current  is  sent  northward,  past 


2  2  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

the  coast  of  upper  Brazil  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where 
it  is  well  heated,  and  thence  poured  into  the  North  Atlantic,  to  become 
widely  celebrated  as  the  Gulf  Stream. 

Gathered  in  full  force,  the  Gulf  Stream  flows  northward  close  along  the 
coast  of  our  Southern  States  at  the  rate  of  eighty  or  ninety  miles  a  day 
until  Cape  Hatteras  gives  it  a  swerve  away,  when  it  strikes  out  to  sea  and 
pushes  straight  across  to  Spain,  where  a  branch  leaves  it  and  runs  north- 
ward between  Iceland  and  the  British  Islands,  while  the  main  body  turns 
southward  to  mingle  again  with  the  equatorial  current  from  Africa  and 
repeat  its  journey  all  over  again.  It  is  in  the  heart  of  this  great  circle  of 
currents  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic  that  navigators  find  that  dreaded 
region  of  heat  and  calms  which  they  call  the  Doldrums ;  and  here,  too,  float 
round  and  round  the  wide,  buoyant  meadows  of  the  Sargasso  Sea. 

Meanwhile  another  most  important  cold  stream  is  making  its  way 
through  the  Atlantic,  known  as  the  Arctic  current.  It  comes  down  out  of 
Baffin's  Bay,  joins  a  similar  flood  from  the  outer  coast  of  Greenland,  is 
thrown  up  to  the  surface  by  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  (where  meeting 
warm  air,  it  produces  those  thick  and  prolonged  fogs  so  common  in  that 
region),  fills  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  bight  between  Nova  Scotia 
and  Cape  Cod  with  chilly  water,  and  finally  dips  under  the  Gulf  Stream 
amid  that  commotion  of  winds  and  waters  that  makes  the  track  of  the 
steamships  between  New  York  and  Europe  the  most  tempestuous  of 
ocean  highways.  It  is  the  mingling  of  these  warm  and  cold  waters  there 
which  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  stormy  condition  of  the  North  Atlantic. 

The  Pacific  has  a  similar  arrangement  of  circulation  north  and  south 
of  the  equator.  The  Antarctic  waters  form  a  cold  stream  named  the  Hum- 
boldt current,  which  pours  up  the  western  side  of  South  America,  keep- 
ing the  climate  down  to  a  far  more  wintry  condition  than  it  is  entitled  to 
by  latitude,  until  it  reaches  the  southern  trade-winds,  which  sweep  it  west- 
ward straight  across  the  Pacific,  where  much  of  it  is  lost  among  the  archi- 
pelagoes of  Oceanica,  and  the  southern  part  flows  onward  into  the  Indian 
Ocean, 

North  of  the  Pacific  equator  a  similar  westward  current  moves  steadily 
over  the  great  waste  of  waters  past  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  the  coast  of 
China.  From  the  Philippines  and  Japan  northward,  however,  there  is  a 
far  stronger  flow,  known  to  the  Japanese  as  the  Black  Current  (Kuroshiwo), 
which  skirts  the  coast  of  Japan  and  the  Kurile  Islands,  makes  these  and 
Kamchatka  habitable,  then  turns  sharply  east  along  the  front  of  the  foggy 
Aleutian  chain  of  islands,  and  broadening  and  cooling  as  it  turns,  swings 
down  the  temperate  coast  of  Alaska  and  gradually  disappears.     These  two 


WAVES,    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS  23 

great  currents  and  their  inclosed  eddies  are  far  broader  and  less  distinct  than 
those  of  the  North  and  South  Atlantic,  but  they  follow  the  same  laws. 

In  a  similar  but  lesser  way  the  Indian  Ocean  has  a  strong  westerly 
stream  flowing  straight  across  from  Australia  to  South  Africa,  which  is  of 
immense  help  to  ships  returning  from  the  East  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  From  Mozambique  the  water  turns  northward  to  make  the  return 
round,  but  here  it  is  complicated  by  the  peculiar  conditions  made  by  the 
inflow  and  outflow  of  the  Red  Sea,  Arabian  Gulf,  and  so  on,  and  by  the  dis- 
turbing influences  of  the  monsoons,  until  it  can  hardly  be  defined. 

Of  all  these  currents  none  is  as  well  marked  as  the  Gulf  Stream.  Its 
blue  water  is  in  such  contrast  to  the  darker,  greenish  hue  of  the  remainder 
of  the  ocean  that  sailors  can  often  tell  when  they  enter  the  edge  of  the  cur- 
rent, half  their  vessel  being  in  and  half  out  of  the  stream.  If  you  approach 
from  the  west  you  find  that  the  water  at  first  shows  a  warmth  of  only  fifty 
or  sixty  degrees  near  the  surface ;  but  as  you  sail  on,  this  increases  until, 
opposite  Sandy  Hook,  you  may  get  as  high  a  reading  on  the  thermometer 
as  eighty  degrees,  and  opposite  Florida  above  one  hundred  degrees.  This 
difference  in  temperature  between  the  eastern  and  western  margins  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  the  great  river  of  Arctic  water 
flowing  in  an  opposite  direction  between  the  Gulf  Stream  and  the  shore. 
Off  Florida  the  Gulf  Stream  is  about  sixty  miles  wide ;  off  New  York  it 
is  over  one  hundred  miles  in  width,  but  is  less  sharply  defined.  Its  depth 
is  hard  to  determine,  but  certainly  amounts  to  several  hundred  feet.  It  is 
worth  remembering  that,  although  some  guesses  had  been  made  at  it  before, 
Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  first  man  to  study  the  Gulf  Stream  and  to 
tell  us  anything  of  its  origin  and  course. 

The  way  in  which  some  of  these  ocean  currents  affect  the  weather  of  the 
lands  upon  which  they  border  shows  how  great  is  the  influence  of  the  sea 
upon  land-climates ;  indeed,  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  only  the  conti- 
nents and  such  great  islands  as  Australia  or  Madagascar  have  any  climate 
essentially  distinct  from  that  of  the  ocean  in  their  quarter  of  the  globe.  But 
the  equability  that  would  reign  over  an  ocean  of  quiet  water,  determining 
the  amount  of  cold  and  heat  by  regular  gradation  in  latitude  between  the 
equator  and  the  poles,  is  completely  upset  by  the  great  current-movements 
I  have  outlined.  Scotland,  for  example,  lies  as  far  north  as  Labrador,  and 
the  latitude  of  London  is  above  that  of  Lake  Superior,  yet  neither  have 
those  terrible  frosts  and  heavy  snows  which  prevail  in  Canada,  and  make 
Labrador  a  land  of  ice  almost  uninhabitable.  This  difference  is  due  almost 
wholly  to  the  fact  that  the  Gulf  Stream  pours  its  warm  flood  against  the 
coast   of  Great   Britain,    and   even    tempers   the    Norwegian   coast,   keeps 


24 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Barentz's  Sea  largely  free  from  summer  ice,  and  clothes  Spitzbergen  with 
vegetation,  although  within  ten  degrees  of  the  pole.  Hence  in  the  forests 
of  northern  Scandinavia  Laps  can  dwell  in  much  comfort  on  a  line  with  the 
frozen  barren  grounds  north  of  Hudson  Bay. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  unfortunate  coasts  of  Greenland  are  bathed  in 
water  chilled  by  months  of  captivity  near  the  pole,  and  loaded  with  ice 
that  cools  down  all  the  winds  that  blow  ashore.  Greenland  itself  is  cov- 
ered with  an  unbroken  sheet  of  ice,  hundreds  or  thousands  of  feet  thick, 
yet  most  of  it  is  no  farther  north  than  Sweden.     The  whole  northeastern 


^ 


A    RUUUII    XIUHT    1\    THE    GL'LF    STREAM. 


coast  of  America,  down  to  Labrador,  is  incrusted  with  ice ;  and  the  region 
south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  has  a  similar  climate  to  Finland ;  while  even 
farther  south,  Boston,  within  the  protecting  arm  of  Cape  Cod,  is  in  winter 
a  city  of  frost  and  snow  and  fog  from  November  till  April,  when  it  really  is 
little  farther  north  than  sunny  Naples,  where  one  laughs  at  winter. 

Similarly,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  northward  movement  of  the  great 
Japanese  current  makes  the  coast  of  China  habitable  and  pleasant  clear  to 
the  Sea  of  Okhotsk,  gives  the  Aleutian  archipelago  a  pretty  decent  climate, 
and  causes  the  islands  and  coasts  of  Alaska  and  British  Columbia  to  nour- 


WAVES.    TIDES,    AND    CURRENTS  25 

ish  the  most  magnificent  forests  in  America,  and  to  have  a  climate  resem- 
bling that  of  Great  Britain.  Glasgow  and  Sitka  are,  in  fact,  in  the  same 
latitude,  and  under  very  similar  climatic  conditions,  except  that  in  Scotland 
there  are  no  such  lofty  and  cold  mountains  to  precipitate  constant  rains  as 
is  the  case  along  the  northwestern  margin  of  America. 

Similar  examples  and  contrasts  might  be  drawn  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  weather  in  the  interior  of  continents  is  pretty  much  alike  on 
similar  latitudes  the  world  round,  varying  with  height ;  but  the  climate  of 
all  sea-coasts  is  good  or  bad  as  a  place  to  live,  in  accordance  with  the  tem- 
perature of  the  water  which  the  currents  bring  to  that  part  of  the  ocean. 

But  the  currents  of  the  ocean  influence  something  besides  the  weather. 
Upon  them  depends  to  a  considerable  extent  whether  a  certain  part  of  the 
coast  shall  have  one  or  another  kind  of  animals  dwelling  in  the  salt  water. 
This  is  not  so  much  true  of  fishes  as  it  is  of  the  mollusks  or  "shell-fish," 
the  worms  that  live  in  the  mud  of  the  tide-flats,  the  anemones,  sea-urchins, 
starfish  and  little  clinging  people  of  the  wet  rocks,  and  of  the  jellyfishes, 
great  and  small,  that  swim  about  in  the  open  sea. 

Nothing  would  injure  most  of  these  "  small  fry  "  more  than  a  change  in 
the  water  making  it  a  few  degrees  colder  or  warmer  than  they  were  accus- 
tomed to.  Since  the  constant  circulation  of  the  currents  keeps  the  ocean 
water  in  all  its  parts  almost  precisely  of  the  same  density,  and  food  seems 
about  as  likely  to  abound  in  one  district  as  another,  naturalists  have  con- 
cluded that  it  is  temperature  which  decides  the  extent  of  coast  or  of  sea- 
area  where  any  one  kind  of  invertebrate  animal  will  be  found.  It  thus 
happens  that  the  life  of  Cuban  waters  is  different  from  that  of  our  Caro- 
lina coast;  and  that,  again,  largely  separate  from  what  you  will  see  off  New 
York ;  while  Cape  Cod  seems  to  run  out  as  a  partition  between  the  shore 
life  south  of  it  and  a  very  different  set  of  shells,  sand-worms,  and  so  forth, 
characteristic  of  the  colder  waters  to  the  northward. 

Out  in  the  ocean,  however,  the  warm  current  of  the  Gulf  Stream  forms 
a  genial  pathway  along  which  southern  swimming  animals,  like  the  won- 
drously  beautiful  Portuguese-man-o'-war  (Physalia),  may  wander  northward 
for  hundreds  of  miles  beyond  where  they  are  found  near  shore  ;  yet  if  by 
chance  they  stray  outside  the  limits  of  the  warm  Gulf  Stream,  they  will  at 
once  be  chilled  to  death,  as  happened  once  to  millions  of  tile-fish. 

Ocean  currents  carry  floating  burdens  long  distances.  They  bring  the 
icebergs  to  form  those  terrible  fogs  of  Alaska  and  Newfoundland ;  and 
they  often  bear  far  away  the  logs  that  float  out  of  tropical  rivers. 

These  drifting  logs  often  have  plants  growing  upon  them  or  contain 
quantities  of  seeds  which  are  not  injured  by  their  short  voyages.     When, 


26 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


therefore,  the  coral  polyps  build  up  one  of  their  reef-islands  until  it  ap- 
pears above  the  waves,  thither  the  currents  bring  roots  and  seeds  from 
neighboring-  islands,  and  quickly  plant  them  upon  the  new  barren  shores, 
so  that  in  a  few  seasons  the  little  islet  becomes  green  and  wooded  and  ready 
to  hold  its  own  against  the  winds  and  waves.  Moreover,  the  same  drifting 
stuff  will  carry  land  animals  as  passengers, —  insects,  snails  of  many  kinds, 
reptiles,  and  even  four-footed  beasts,  —  and  so  not  only  give  the  island  a 
vegetation,  but  populate  it  with  various  of  the  smaller  animals.  This  seems 
to  you,  perhaps,  a  very  accidental  and  haphazard  way  of  fitting  out  a 
country  so  that  presently  it  may  support  human  beings,  nor  is  it  the  only 
means  by  which  barren  islands  become  productive  ;  but  it  is  important  as  far 
as  it  o-oes,  and  when  we  study  into  the  distribution  of  plants  and  animals 
in  an  archipelago,  we  are  pretty  sure  to  find  those  of  the  same  sort  upon 
islands  that  lie  in  the  same  current — even  to  the  human  inhabitants. 


A   YOUNG   SHIP-RIGGER. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE     BUILDING     AND     RIGGING    OF     SHIPS 

S  late  as  1861  an  exploring  ship  was  visited  by  natives  of 
Western  Australia,  riding  simple  rough  logs.  To  smooth 
and  sharpen  the  log's  end  and  then  to  hollow  it  out  has 
been  thought  to  be  the  first  step  taken  by  primitive  man 
in  his  progress  toward  a  boat;  but  I  think  the  dugout 
probably  came  later,  or  at  any  rate  no  earlier,  than  the  folding  of  bark  into 
a  trough  and  tying  up  the  ends,  as  some  savages  are  still  content  to  do. 
In  North  America,  where  materials  were  favorable,  this  germ  developed 
into  the  very  highest  type  of  canoe  —  the  Algonkin  birch-bark.  It  may 
have  been  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  bark  canoe  in  a  more  durable  form 
which  led  to  the  laborious  hollowing  of  dugouts;  but  here  again,  in  regions 
where  suitable  trees  grew,  the  art  developed  so  highly  as  to  produce  the 
great  sea-boats  of  the  Papuans  and  our  Northwest  Coast  Indians,  carved 
from  a  single  log,  yet  able  to  carry  sixty  or  more  persons  and  their  luggage. 
Such  boats  as  these,  when  provided  with  sails,  are  practically  "ships,"  and 
satisfy  every  need  of  their  owners. 

Another  root  of  naval  architecture  lies  in  the  raft,  which  long  ago 
reached  a  high  degree  of  usefulness  in  the  sea-going  balsa  of  western  South 
America.  It  is  probable  that  the  South  Sea  catamaran  is  a  clever  out- 
growth of  experience  with  a  raft.  In  Polynesia  it  took  the  form  of  two 
great  canoes,  exactly  equal,  fastened  close  together  and  covered  by  a  single 
central  deck ;  and  such  are  the  seaworthiness  and  speed  of  these  double 
boats,  that  the  Polynesians  voyage  hundreds  of  miles  in  them. 

Similar  in  purpose — namely,  to  insure  stability — are  the  various  outrig- 
gers that  at  once  characterize  and  distinguish  among  themselves  the  native 
craft  of  the  South  Seas.  This  device  consists  of  a  beam  of  the  lightest 
obtainable  wood,  usually  about  half  as  long  as  the  canoe,  which  rests  upon 
the  water  parallel  to  and  a  few  feet  away  from  the  side  of  the  boat,  and  is 
connected  with  its  gunwale  by  elastic  rods  or  planks.     Sometimes  these  are 


28  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

covered,  or  partly  covered,  by  a  light  platform,  and  there  are  many  varia- 
tions in  form ;  but  the  idea  in  all  cases  is  to  keep  the  boat  from  overturning. 
In  many  parts  of  the  world  logs  could  be  obtained  large  enough 
only  for  a  narrow  bottom  or  hollowed  keel,  and  the  remainder  of  the  boat 
was  built  up  of  planks  and  pieces  ingeniously  pegged  and  knit  together 
with  treenails,  ratan,  and  cords  made  of  vegetable  fibers  that  tightened 
when  wet.  The  Madras  surf-boats  are  a  familiar  example  in  civilized 
waters  of  boats  made  in  this  way  which  have  great  elasticity,  and  out  of 
them  have  developed,  without  much  change,  the  swift  proas  of  the  Ma- 
lays, and  the  junks  of  China,  Korea,  and  Japan.  One  device  for  stitching 
these  boats  firmly  together  was  the  leaving  of  ridges  on  the  inner  side  of 
the  planks  or  pieces,  through  holes  in  which  they  could  be  tied  to  each 

other  and  to  the  inner  framework  without 
making  a  hole  reaching  the  outside.  This 
system  seems  to  have  been  earlier  than  the 
use  of  treenails. 

Of  similar  construction,  apparently,  were 
the  boats  of  the  Egyptians  and  other  peoples 
about  the  eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Red  Sea,  which,  as  far  back  as  three 
thousand  years  before  Christ,  at  least,  had 
reached  the  size  and  capabilities  of  true  ships, 
PROA,  WITH  OUTRIGGER.  making,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  extensive 

sea  voyages.  Pictures  of  them  remain  in 
the  very  ancient  tombs,  and  show  that  the  planking  consisted  of  pieces 
about  three  feet  square,  which  were  laid  on  overlapping,  like  shingles  on  a 
roof,  and  fastened  to  the  framework  by  wooden  treenails.  The  Pheni- 
cians,  and  their  pupils  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  improved  on  these  methods 
in  various  ways,  at  last  substituting  iron,  copper,  and  bronze  nails  or  bolts 
(which  would  not  rust)  for  the  wooden  pegs  of  their  ancestors. 

All  of  these  boats  and  those  of  all  western  Europe  (of  which  the  best 
outside  the  Mediterranean  were '  the  vikings'  ships)  differed  in  one  essen- 
tial point  of  construction  from  Oriental  ships:  instead  of  making  the  shell 
of  the  vessel,  and  fitting  into  it  a  framework  of  connected  braces,  as  the 
Malays  and  Polynesians  did  (and  yet  do),  they  laid  a  keel,  bending  it  up  or 
setting  into  it  stem-  and  stern-posts  at  the  ends,  and  inserted  along  its  sides 
curving  upright  timbers,  well  styled  "ribs,"  which  swelled  out  amidships, 
and  narrowed  in  forward  and  aft,  making  a  skeleton  of  the  shape  the  hull 
was  intended  to  be.  Finally,  over  and  upon  this  well-braced  framework 
were  securely  fastened  the  planks,  which  were  narrow  and  ran  lengthwise 


THE    BUILDING    AND    RIGGING    OF    SHIPS  29 

in  every  case  except  that  of  the  ancient  Nile  boats.  The  Scandinavian 
vikings  developed  a  craft  of  their  own,  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
ancient  ships ;  and  to  these  northern  craftsmen  is  traceable  the  principal  in- 
fluence that  has  shaped  British  (and  consequently  American)  ship-building 
and  seamanship.  This  early  Scandinavian  boat  was  always  made  of  oak, 
sharp  at  both  ends,  and  rather  shallow,  the  general  form  being  much  like 
that  of  a  modern  whaleboat,  with  a  great  rounding  keel  —  if,  indeed,  this 
wonderful  sea-craft  may  not  be  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  viking  ship. 
The  hewn  planks  were  attached  to  the  keel  and  to  the  ribs  (usually  single, 
naturally  bent  V-shaped  prongs  of  oak)  in  a  most  ingenious  and  serviceable 
manner,  and  they  were  always  overlapping  or  clinker  (i.  e.,  clencher)  built. 
Several  of  these  and  other  prehistoric  boats  have  been  found  buried  in  peat- 
moss and  in  mounds  in  Germany,  Denmark,  and  Scandinavia,  and  have 
been  described  by  various  writers. 

The  motive  power  of  all  the  early  boats  was  found  in  human  arms, 
wielding  paddles  or  oars.  It  is  said  that  the  oldest  forms  of  paddles  of 
which  we  have  any  record  among  the  Egyptian  or  Assyrian  hieroglyphs 
show  them  to  have  been  shaped  somewhat  like  the  arm  and  hand,  and  that 
similar  paddles  were  to  be  seen  a  few  decades  ago  on  the  canals  in  Holland. 
This  is  natural,  because  undoubtedly  the  first  paddle  ever  used  was  the 
naked  hand.  Short  paddles  were  soon  found  less  powerful  than  long  ones ; 
but  in  order  to  work  the  latter  it  was  necessary  to  brace  them  against  some- 
thing in  the  middle.  Notches  were  therefore  cut  in  the  edge  of  the  boat,  or 
thole-pins  were  inserted,  the  paddle  became  an  oar,  and  by  and  by  boatmen 
learned  the  art  of  feathering,  and  so  forth. 

Steering  could  be  done  of  old,  as  now,  with  a  turn  of  the  rearmost  pad- 
dle in  a  canoe,  and  as  canoes  enlarged,  the  steering-paddle  was  lengthened. 
As  the  sterns  of  the  ancient  boats  were  usually  either  sharp,  like  the  prows, 
or  else  built  up  into  an  ornamental  height,  the  most  convenient  place  for 
the  steering-oar  was  over  the  right  side,  where  it  was  balanced  in  a  loop  of 
cable,  or  otherwise,  as  close  to  the  after  end  of  the  boat  as  practicable,  and 
then  a  cross-piece  extended  inboard  from  the  handle,  enabling  the  steers- 
man to  move  it  more  easily  by  giving  him  the  benefit  of  leverage.  Such 
was  the  arrangement  of  steering-gear  in  all  the  ancient  Mediterranean 
boats,  and  it  is  to  a  similar  arrangement  in  the  sea-going  craft  of  our  north- 
ern ancestors  that  we  owe  our  words  sterol  and  starboard,  which  originally 
meant  "steering-place"  and  "steering-side."  The  modern  rudder  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  oar,  set  upright,  tiller  and  all,  and  hinged  to  the  stern- 
post;  in  fact,  the  word  has  descended  from  the  old  Teutonic  name  for  "oar," 
and  all  gradations  between  steering-oar  and  true  rudder  may  still  be  found. 


30  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

Though  some  romantic  stories  are  told  by  the  old  mythologists  as  to  its 
origin,  the  idea  of  rigging  was  as  natural  and  practical  in  its  development 
as  that  of  hull  or  steering-gear.  That  a  strong  breeze  moves  a  canoe,  and 
that,  if  a  man  in  a  canoe  holds  his  robe  outstretched  or  a  thick  bush  up- 
right, the  force  will  send  him  along  without  the  labor  of  paddling,  and 
lengthwise  rather  than  sidewise,  because  that  is  the  direction  of  least  resis- 
tance, were  facts  quickly  and  gratefully  seized  upon  by  the  earliest  boatmen. 
To  have  a  skin  ready  for  the  purpose,  and  to  set  up  a  pole  and  ropes  to 
hold  it  in  position,  were  easy  matters ;  yet  in  this  simple  arrangement  you 
have  the  first  sail. 

But  skins  were  too  heavy  and  valuable  for  such  a  purpose,  except  in 
such  limited  circumstances  as  those  of  the  Arctic  Eskimos. 

Persons  who  spent  much  time  on  the  water,  therefore,  like  the  most 
ancient  Egyptians  and  the  islanders  of  the  Chinese  and  South  seas,  soon 
devised  a  way  of  weaving  rushes  or  splints  of  bamboo  into  broad  mats,  and 
thus  were  able,  on  account  of  their  lightness,  to  carry  much  larger  and  more 
effective  sails,  which  were  kept  outstretched  by  one  or  more  cross- poles  or 
spars,  and  could  be  taken  down  quickly.  Many  such  sails  are  in  use  to  this 
day  not  only  among  Asiatic  and  African  boatmen,  but  on  the  northwest 
coast  of  Canada.     A  fine  example  hangs  above  my  desk  as  I  write. 

With  the  discovery  of  how  to  make  cloth  and  cordage  of  woolen,  silken, 
hempen,  and  cotton  fibers  (and  in  Egypt  of  papyrus),  came  a  still  better 
material  for  ropes  and  sails,  since  cloth  was  so  much  lighter  that  a  far 
greater  extent  of  it  could  be  spread  than  before  ;  its  flexibility  enabled  it  to 
be  handled,  changed,  and  rolled  up  snugly,  and  its  cheapness  encouraged 
its  use  and  the  practice  of  navigation  generally.  We  read  of  silken  sails 
on  the  royal  barges  of  medieval  times,  but  they  could  hardly  have  exceeded 
in  strength  or  elegance  those  of  the  fine  Phenician  ships  that  carried  the 
commerce  of  the  world  twenty-five  centuries  ago.  "  Fine  linen  with  broid- 
ered  work  from  Egypt  was  that  which  thou  spreadest  forth  to  be  thy  sail," 
exclaims  the  sacred  chronicler  (Ezekiel  xxvii.  7).  Hempen  cloth,  indeed, 
was  preferred  for  sails  until  the  present  century,  as  is  expressed  in  our  word 
ca7iz'as,  which  is  derived  from  the  Latin  name  of  flax  ;  but  now  cotton  has 
mainly  superseded  it. 

Anciently  the  sails  were  often  colored,  purple  or  vermilion  being  the 
badge  of  a  monarch  or  an  admiral.  Black  denoted  mourning.  "  In  some 
cases  the  topsail  seems  to  have  been  colored,  while  the  sail  below  was 
plain  ;  and  frequently  a  patchwork  of  colors  was  produced  by  using  differ- 
ent stuffs."  Various  inscriptions  and  devices  were  also  woven  or  painted 
on  the  sails,  sometimes  in  gold.     The  Venetians  and  Greeks  do  the  same 


THE    BUILDIA'G    AND    RIGGING    OF    SHIPS 


REEFING  A  TOPSAIL   IN  A   STORM. 


to  this  day,  adding  a  gaudy  feature  to  the  lovely  Levantine  sea-scenery; 
and  the  sails  of  the  North  Sea  fishermen  are  turned  to  a  rich  red  and  yel- 
low by  the  tanning  mixture  in  which  they  soak  their  canvas. 

As  for  the  shape,  all  rigs  seem  reducible  to  two  types  —  the  lateen  and 
the  square.     The  former  is  characteristic  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  world. 


32 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


the  latter  of  the  western  half,  including  primitive  America,  where,  so  far  as 
I  know,  only  plain,  rectangular  sails  were  ever  made  by  the  Indians. 

There  must  be  some  good  reason  for  a  broad  division  like  this,  and  it  is 
found  in  the  different  conditions  which  eastern  and  western  seamen  had  to 
meet.  The  lateen  seems  to  have  originated  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  is  seen 
wherever  Arabs  are,  and  has  been  taken  eastward  by  the  Malays  as  far  into 
the  South  Sea  Islands  as  their  influence  extended.  It  is  a  huge,  triangular 
canvas  extended  at  a  steep  angle  by  a  long,  flexible  yard  balanced  across  the 
mast  to  which  it  is  loosely  hung,  and  controlled  by  a  sheet  attached  to  the 
free  corner.      It  is  thus  very  lofty,   and  therefore  suitable  to  a   region  of 

steady  and  usually  light  winds. 
This  is  the  characteristic  rig  of  the 
Arab  dhow  —  a  model  that  has 
come  down  from  remote  antiquity 
and  is  capable  of  excellent  service 
on  the  northern  and  eastern  coasts 
of  Africa,  where  it  prevails.  It 
was  probably  in  a  small  vessel  of 
this  kind  that  the  Apostle  Paul  suf- 
fered shipwreck  ;  and  an  outgrowth 
and  perfection  of  it  is  the  dahabi- 
yeh  of  the  Nile,  now  become  fa- 
mous as  a  tourists'  pleasure-boat, 
whose  immensely  lofty  sail  is  precisely  adapted  to  catch  every  faint  breath 
that  comes  across  the  river  from  the  deserts.  Such  sails  are  spread  like 
the  great  pointed  wings  of  an  albatross  over  the  narrow  decks  of  the 
Malayan  "flying  proas"  and  other  swift  South  Sea  craft,  and  urge  upon 
their  fleet  errands  the  xebecs,  saics,  feluccas,  and  other  light  craft  of  the 
Levant  and  Barbary  coasts,  identified  with  former  piracy  and  modern 
smuggling,  as  well  as  with  fishing  and  freighting.  Some  of  these  boats 
have  two  or  three  masts,  the  xebec  and  felucca  being  notable  because 
of  the  curious  forward  rake  of  the  foremast ;  and  in  that  extremely  pic- 
turesque Portuguese  fishing-boat  called  the  muleta  there  are,  in  addition 
to  the  big  lateen,  a  huge  free  second  sail  ballooning  out  to  leeward  from 
the  tip  of  the  yard,  and  a  host  of  little  flying  jibs  forward,  which  somebody 
has  well  likened  to  a  flock  of  birds  hovering  about  the  prow.  Good  ex- 
amples of  lateen-rigged  boats  may  be  seen  in  Louisiana,  built  and  manned 
by  the  Greek,  Maltese,  and  Sicilian  fishermen. 

The  difficulty  of  handling  in  rough  or  squally  weather  this  long  yard 
and  expansive  canvas  makes  it  unsuitable  for  such  weather  as  prevails  in 


A   HOXG-KOXG   "PULL-AWAY"   BOAT. 

Showing  method  of  hoisting  and  reefing  matting  sails. 


THE    BUILDING    AND    RIGGING    OF    SHIPS  »        T,T, 

the  western  Mediterranean  or  on  the  Atlantic ;  and  to  meet  these  stormy 
and  frequently  changing  conditions,  and  obtain  a  rig  with  which  they  could 
beat  to  windward,  the  earliest  rough-water  seamen  devised  square  sails. 
What  the  rig  of  the  ancient  far-voyaging  Phenician  ships  was  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing,  but  the  indications  are  that  they  carried  lug  sails,  which 
appear  to  be  the  simplest  and  earliest  of  the  "square"  forms;  that  is,  sails 
suspended  from  short  cross-yards,  and  controlled  by  ropes  (sheets)  attached 
to  their  lower  corners.  Such  at  least  were  the  sails  of  the  Roman  and 
Greek  merchant  and  war  vessels  of  the  classical  era,  and  they  persist  to- 
day in  the  local  fishing-smacks  of  the  stormy  Adriatic. 

The  true  home  of  the  square-sailed  craft,  however,  was  northern  Europe, 
where  the  Norwegian,  Dutch,  and  Norman  coasters  and  fishermen  of  to- 
day probably  represent  fairly  well  the  rigs  of  the  bold  viking  boats  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  centuries  ago. 

Of  the  slow  development  of  ship-building  during  the  middle  ages  we 
have  little  information,  but  in  the  fourteenth  century  we  begin  to  hear  of  a 
revival  in  the  art,  as,  indeed,  was  needful  when  the  long  voyages  were  to  be 
undertaken  which  the  discovery  of  the  mariner's  compass  had  then  rendered 
possible.  In  this  revival  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  took  the  lead,  but  the 
English  were  not  far  behind.  There  was  a  large  variety  of  vessels  in  that 
day,  rude  though  they  were,  and  called  by  names  we  should  hardly  recognize. 

Though  the  hulls  of  these  vessels  were  large  and  tight,  their  shape  was 
poorly  adapted  for  speed  or  for  safety  in  bad  weather.  Their  decks  were  built 
up  into  immensely  high  structures  at  the  stern  and  bows,  after  the  old  galley 
model,  and  to  form  forts  for  soldiers.  Our  word  "forecastle"  reminds  us 
of  this  old  usage.  Their  masts  were  single  sticks, —  not  divided  into  top- 
masts,—  and  hence,  necessarily,  were  thick  and  heavy ;  and  they  bore  upon 
their  summits  large  "top-castles"  where  marines  stood  in  battle  to  shoot 
down  upon  the  enemy's  decks.  This  weight  above,  with  the  height  of 
surface  exposed  to  the  wind  and  the  clumsy  rigging,  made  it  impossible 
for  them  to  sail  safely  except  with  a  fair  and  gentle  wind  (they  never  at- 
tempted it  otherwise),  and  they  were  required  to  carry  an  enormous  quan- 
tity of  ballast.  There  was  so  little  room  for  anything  except  armament, 
sleeping-berths,  and  a  cooking-room  in  the  war-ships  that  every  war  fleet 
had  to  take  with  it  small  vessels  carrying  provisions ;  and  the  case  was 
little  better  in  respect  to  merchant  vessels. 

The  ships  in  which  Vasco  da  Gama,  Columbus,  the  Cabots,  and  other 
explorers  did  their  marvelous  work  were  no  better  than  this.  Strangely 
inefficient  they  seem  to  us,  and  we  wonder  that  some  of  the  simplest  contri- 
vances in  rigging  were  not  adopted  centuries  before  they  came  into  use 


34  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

until  we  remember  that  it  was  not  for  long,  speedy  voyages  that  vessels 
were  intended  previous  to  the  sixteenth  century  (with  certain  exceptions 
in  northern  seas),  but  simply  as  a  means  of  carrying  slowly  from  one  coast- 
port  to  another  a  great  number  of  men  or  huge  cargoes. 

However,  as  the  known  world  widened  and  trade  grew,  inventions  by 
private  ship-owners  continually  improved  the  rigging,  though  it  would  be 
hard  to  find  a  class  of  men  slower  to  change  old  ways  for  new  than  the  sea- 
men. Columbus's  ''caravel  "  had  four  short  masts,  the  forward  one  having 
a  square  lug-sail  and  the  three  after  masts  lateens.  It  was  very  gradually, 
indeed,  that  lateens  were  given  up,  and  most  curious  combinations  of  sails 
were  to  be  seen  in  this  transition  period  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centu- 
ries. The  old-fashioned  Mediterranean  barca,  for  example,  had  as  foremast 
the  forward-raking  "  trinchetto  "  of  the  felucca,  with  a  huge  lateen,  while  the 
mainmast  bore  three  square  sails  and  the  mizzen  two  lugs ;  and  in  addition 
to  this  two  banks  of  oars  were  provided!  In  fact,  it  was  not  until  1800 
that  English  frigates  substituted  a  spanker  for  the  lateen-rigged  mizzen. 

Another  curiosity  of  rigging  possessed  by  these  solidly  built,  beautifully 
carved  vessels  (no  such  exterior  decoration  has  been  seen  since  as  adorned 
the  ships  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries)  was  the  quaint  little 
spritsail-topmast.  By  this  time  the  single  heavy  pole-mast  had  been  super- 
seded by  the  three  built-up  masts  and  topmasts,  braced  by  stays,  made 
accessible  by  rope  ladders  (shrouds),  and  carrying  several  tiers  of  topsails 
instead  of  only  one.  A  bowsprit  had  been  added,  also,  and  this  became 
almost  a  fourth  mast,  so  loaded  were  it  and  its  stays  with  various  small  sails. 
Its  outer  end  bore  this  miniature  spritsail-mast,  with  topmast,  shrouds,  and 
tiny  sails  all  complete,  surmounted  by  a  pole-head,  or  jack-staff,  upon  which 
was  hoisted  the  flag  since  known  as  the  jack,  and  always  now  carried  at  the 
prow  of  any  national  boat  or  ship,  even  such  as  the  shapeless  monitors. 

But  gradually,  out  of  the  experience  of  long  voyages,  the  competition 
of  merchants,  and  as  an  effect  of  improved  gunnery  and  consequent  changes 
in  naval  tactics,  the  lofty  deck-structures,  great  tops,  needless  outworks,  and 
odd  sails,  like  this  spritsail,  were  got  rid  of,  and  vessels  were  trimmed  down 
and  equalized  until  they  became,  as  now,  "ship-shape,  Bristol-fashion." 

The  rigging  of  modern  sailing-vessels  is  divided  into  "standing"  and 
"  running"  ;  the  former  includes  the  masts,  their  stays,  now  generally  made 
of  wire,  and  such  other  rope-work  as  is  not  adjustable. 

The  sails,  also,  may  be  assigned  to  two  classes :  first,  those  attached  to 
a  mast,  with  or  without  boom  and  gaff,  or  to  a  stay,  which  are  called 
fore-and-aft  sails  because  they  may  be  ranged  lengthwise  of  the  ship; 
and.  second,  those  suspended  by  their  upper  and  lower  edges  to  or  between 


THE    BUILDING    AND    RIGGING    OF    SHIPS 


35 


Spars  or  "  yards"  swung  across  the  mast,  and  known  as  "square"  sails,  the 
lowermost  of  which  are  really  lugs.  All  the  variations  of  shape  seen  in 
America,  except  the  rare  and  local  lateens,  can  be  counted  in  one  or  the 
other  of  these  classes. 

The  styles  of  rig  visible  in  American  waters  are  not  many,  and  are 
easily  learned.     Let  us  begin  with  the  simplest  —  that  having  one  mast. 

The  cat-boat  (i.  e.,  cat-rigged  boat)  is  one  having  a  simple  pole-mast 
stepped  very  near  the  bow,  and  a  fore-and-aft  sail  laced  to  a  gaff  and  boom 


ANCIENT   CARAVELS. 
Copied  from  old  manuscripts  and  tapestries. 

and  managed  by  a  sheet.  This  is  the  rig  of  the  ordinary  American  sail- 
boat, which  is  noted  for  its  ability  in  pointing  up  into  the  wind.  In  Eng- 
land it  is  known  as  a  una-boat.  Sometimes  the  peak  of  the  sail  is  sus- 
tained by  a  little  loose  spar  called  a  "sprit,"  instead  of  a  gaff.  In  the 
chapter  on  Yachting  will  be  found  further  illustrations  of  these  small  rigs. 
A  sloop  has  one  mast  (with  topmast)  set  well  back  from  the  stem,  and 
a  bowsprit.  The  sloop-rig  consists  of  a  fore-and-aft  mainsail,  spread  by 
means  of  a  boom  and  gaff,  a  gaff-topsail,  a  forestaysail,  and  one  or  more 
jibs.  A  cutter  is  now  substantially  the  same  thing,  though  formerly  some- 
what distinguished.  Both  are  derived,  probably,  from  the  northern  lugger, 
and  old-time  pictures  show  queer  intermediate  forms,  often  having  a 
square  topsail  instead  of  a  gaff.      Thus  the  earlier  of  the  Hudson  River 


36  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

sloops,  which  were  not  only  the  freight-carriers  but  the  packet-boats  be- 
tween New  York  and  Albany  from  the  time  the  Dutch  introduced  them 
until  steamboats  took  their  place,  had  the  top  of  the  mainsail  supported, 
lug-fashion,  by  a  short  yard,  and  carried  above  that  a  square  topsail ;  but 
this  rig  was  steadily  modified  toward  the  modern  type  to  make  it  faster 
and  safer  in  the  sudden  squalls  that  beset  this  hill-girt  river. 

Of  two-masted  rigs,  the  oldest  is  the  bidg,  which  has  square  sails  on 
both  masts,  just  like  the  main  and  mizzen  masts  of  a  full-rigged  ship. 
Then  there  is  the  brigantine,  a  slight  modification  of  the  brig,  and  the  her- 
viaphrodite  brig,  or  brig-schooner,  with  fore-and-aft  sails  on  the  after  mast. 
This  kind  of  vessel  has  been  greatly  modified  (one  of  its  most  extraordinary 
forms  was  the  ketcli),  is  less  common  now  than  formerly,  and  took  its 
name,  which  is  derived  from  the  same  source  as  "brigand,"  from  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  most  common  rig  of  the  pirates  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries.  Its  place  was  largely  taken  for  small  vessels  by  a  purely 
American  invention,  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  Yankee  notions  —  the 
schooner.  The  schooner  was  originally  small,  and  had  two  masts ;  but  now 
is  often  built  of  great  size,  with  as  many  as  five  or  six  masts,  each  of  which 
has  a  fore-and-aft  rig —  that  is,  a  sloop's  mainsail  and  gaff-topsail  on  every 
mast,  with  forestaysail  and  several  jibs  in  front,  and  staysails  between. 
Sometimes  a  square  sail  is  placed  on  the  foretopmast,  which  makes  the 
vessel  a  topsail  schooner.  The  first  one  was  built  by  a  Gloucester  sea-cap- 
tain about  181 7,  and  proved  so  satisfactory  that  all  the  fishing-fleet  were 
soon  rigged  in  that  way,  whence  the  idea  has  spread  to  all  parts  of  the 
world.  • 

Until  recently,  however,  vessels  large  enough  to  have  three  masts  were 
always  "square-rigged,"  as  barks,  barkentines,  or  ships;  for,  although  we 
have  come  to  speak  of  any  big  vessel  as  a  "ship,"  yet  in  proper  nautical 
language  a  ship  is  a  vessel  rigged  in  a  particular  way,  and  it  is  nothing 
else.  In  fact,  in  olden  times  they  were  sometimes  very  small  —  too  small 
to  be  economical,  as  we  now  know.  The  "  Naval  Chronicle"  for  1807  con- 
tained an  account  of  a  full-rigged  ship  of  only  thirty-six  tons'  burden, 
which  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  previous  to  that  date  had  been 
cruising  about  the  English  coast,  and  may  be  doing  so  yet,  for  aught  I  know. 

Masts  have  their  proper  names  :  the  tallest  is  in  the  middle  of  the  vessel, 
and  is  called  the  mainmast ;  the  next  tallest  stands  in  front  of  it,  and  is  the 
foremast ;  and  the  third  is  in  the  stern,  and  is  named  mizzenmast,  because 
it  carries  the  mizzen  (sail).  All  the  rigging,  except  that  belonging  to  the 
bowsprit,  is  repeated  for  each  mast,  and  each  piece  is  named  with  reference 
to  the  mast  or  part  of  the  mast  or  appropriate  sail  to  which  it  belongs :  as, 


THE    BUILDING    AND    RIGGING    OF    SHIPS 


37 


for  example,  main  shrouds,  fore  shrouds,  mizzen  shrouds,  mizzen-royal,  main- 
topsail  yard,  foretopmast  studdingsail  downhaul,  and  so  on.  In  a  proper  full- 
rigged  ship  all  the  sails  upon  the  masts,  except  the  spanker,  are  square,  and 
are  named  from  the  sections  of  the  mast  opposite  which  they  hang.  Counting 
from  the  deck  to  the  truck,  or  tiptop  of  the  mast,  they  are  as  follows :  on  the 
mainmast,  mainsail  or  maincourse,  maintopsail,  maintopgallant-sail,  main- 
royal,  and  skysail ;   on  the  foremast,  foresail  or  forecourse,  foretopsail,  fore- 


A    FIJI    ISLAND   OUT-RIGGED   CANOE,   APPROACHING  A   FULL-RIGGED   SHIP   HOVE-TO. 

topgallant,  foreroyal,  and  skysail ;  on  the  mizzenmast,  cross-jack  (and  behind 
it  the  spanker,  mizzen,  or  driver),  mizzentopsail,  mizzentopgallant,  mizzen- 
royal,  and  skysail.  The  bowsprit  sails  are  the  forestaysail,  foretopmast 
staysail,  jib,  flying  jib,  and  outer  jib,  or  jibstaysail.  Each  of  the  stays  run- 
ning diagonally  from  mast  to  mast  bears  a  triangular  sail  known  by  the 
name  of  the  particular  stay  on  which  it  hangs,  as  maintopmast  staysail,  and 
so  on  —  nine  in  all.  In  addition  to  all  this,  a  little  sail  is  sometimes  set 
above  the  skysail,  and  another  under  the  bowsprit,  while  out  beyond  the 
ends  of  the  yards  are  often  extended  light  additional  spars  carrying  stud- 
dingsails.  In  favorable  weather,  when  the  captain  wishes  to  "crowd  all 
on,"  as  sometimes  can  be  done  for  days  and  weeks  together  before  the  trades, 
almost  forty  sails  may  be  spread,  and  the  ship  moves  grandly  along  under  a 

3* 


38 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


swaying  cloud  of  canvas  that  reaches  far  beyond  her  rails  on  each  side,  and 
towers  more  than  one  hundred  feet  into  the  steady  air. 

But  the  cost  of  building,  maintaining,  and  handling  these  grand  fab- 
rics is  so  great  that  they  are  steadily  diminishing  in  numbers,  and  perhaps 
are  destined  before  long  to  disappear  altogether  from  the  seas  to  which  they 
have  lent  so  much  picturesqueness  and  romance.  The  supremacy  of  the 
schooner  seems  likely  to  prove  complete.  Unwilling  to  concede  everything 
at  once,  many  vessels  are  now  rigged  with  square  sails  on  the  foremast  and 
mainmast  and  fore-and-aft  sails  on  the  mizzen  (a  bark),  or  square  sails  on  the 
foremast  only,  and  the  others  schooner-rigged  (a  barkentine)\  but  even  these 
are  disappearing  in  favor  of  the  three-masted  or  four-masted  schooner.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  schooner  rig  will  sail  closer  to  the  wind  and  gives 
as  much  force  in  proportion  as  the  ship  style,  while  it  is  far  less  expensive 
to  build,  and  more  quickly  and  easily  managed,  not  requiring  nearly  as  many 
men,  and  therefore  being  cheaper  to  run  as  well  as  to  set  up.  It  is  for  these 
reasons  that  I  have  called  it  one  of  the  greatest  of  Yankee  notions. 


A    MULETA,   OR   PORTUGUESE   LATEEN-RIGGED   FISHING-BOAT. 


CHAPTER  IV 

EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 

PART    I PREVIOUS    TO    THE    DISCOVERY    OF    AMERICA 

HEREVER  it  may  have  been  that  man  first  appeared  upon 
the  earth,  the  period  must  certainly  have  been  incalculably 
long  ago,  for  he  had  time  to  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  habi- 
table globe  long  before  any  sort  of  record  begins.  Little, 
if  any,  part  of  the  world  has  yet  been  found  where  the  evi- 
dences of  man's  residence  in  the  long- forgotten  past  do  not  exist.  So  long 
ago  that  all  tradition  of  it  is  forgotten,  and  only  the  imperishable  stone  imple- 
ments they  used  remain  as  traces  of  their  presence,  mankind  had  reached  and 
settled  the  farthest  northern  and  eastern  coasts  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  the 
southern  extremities  of  Africa  and  India.  These  might  have  been  reached 
by  land  ;  but  similar  traces  exist  in  many  islands  which,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
could  never  have  been  connected  vv^ith  each  other  or  with  any  continent  by 
lands  now  submerged  (as  perhaps  has  been  the  case  in  some  other  islands) 
since  man  originated.  Such  places,  then,  could  have  been  reached  and 
colonized  only  by  means  of  boats,  and  that  at  an  exceedingly  remote  time. 

Some  hint  of  what  these  prehistoric  navigators  might  have  been  able  to 
do  may  be  gathered  from  the  performances  that  we  know  of  in  the  South 
Sea,  where  almost  every  island  and  coral  atoll  that  could  support  a  colony 
has  apparently  been  inhabited,  since  long  before  even  tradition  begins, 
although  some  of  them,  like  the  Hawaiian  group,  are  separated  from  all 
others  by  hundreds  of  miles  of  open  sea. 

It  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  suggestive  to  read  in  a  work  like  Pro- 
fessor Friedrich  Ratzel's  "  History  of  Mankind,"  of  the  dispersion  of  popu- 
lation over  the  islands  of  the  South  Pacific  Ocean,  where  a  mixed  population 
of  black  and  yellow  races  possessed  themselves  of  the  whole  of  Oceanica 
long  before  white  men  had  even  heard  of  that  part  of  the  world.     This 


40  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

astounding  fact  gains  in  significance  when  we  remember  that  wide  tracts 
of  very  deep  ocean  divide  these  islands,  many  of  which  are  so  small  that 
they  were  found  by  exploring  navigators  only  with  difficulty.  Cook  and 
Beechey  and  other  early  voyagers  note  finding  upon  certain  islands 
people  who  had  come  thither  in  their  own  boats  over  distances  of  six  or 
eight  hundred  miles ;  and  there  are  many  instances  of  castaways  surviving 
voyages  of  one  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  miles,  even  against  the  trade- 
winds.  But  these  involuntary  voyages  were  no  longer  than  many  others 
undertaken  for  war  or  trade,  or  because  of  famine  or  a  mere  love  of 
wandering.  Over-population  of  the  limited  spaces  of  most  islands  and 
groups  led  to  the  colonization  of  others ;  and  it  must  often  have  been 
necessary  to  go  far  away  to  seek  unoccupied  or  thinly  peopled  refuges. 
This  could  not  have  been  done  had  men  not  been  good  shipwrights,  not 
onl\',  but  careful  students  of  the  heavens  by  whose  sun  and  moon  and  stars 
they  steered,  aiding  themselves  with  charts  made  of  sticks.  The  remotest 
groups,  like  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Easter  Island,  were  found  and  set- 
tled too  long  ago  even  for  tradition  to  retain  more  than  a  fabulous  story 
about  it.  "These  Vikings  of  the  Pacific,"  says  Ratzel,  "continued  to  dis- 
cover even  small  and  remote  islets.  In  the  whole  of  the  Pacific  there  is 
not  one  island  of  any  size  of  which  it  was  left  to  Europeans  to  demonstrate 
the  habitability."  It  has  even  been  argued  that  the  continent  of  America 
was  peopled  by  Pacific  Islanders,  who  made  their  w^ay  to  it  from  Polynesia; 
but  of  this  there  is  no  direct  evidence,  and  it  seems  unlikely,  because  the 
prevailing  winds  and  currents  flow  from  South  America,  rather  than  toward 
it,  in  this  part  of  the  Pacific. 

But  leaving  these  dim  old  times  when  barbarous  men  voyaged  far  and 
wide  over  seas,  and  races  mingled  that  were  born  on  opposite  sides  of  wide 
waters,  let  us  note  what  traveling  our  civilized  ancestors  did. 

The  evidences  of  ruined  walls,  graves,  carvings,  and  stone  tools  show 
that  that  earliest  of  civilized  races  of  which  we  now  have  any  knowledge  — 
the  Hittites  —  were  acquainted  not  only  with  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  but  had  boldly  rounded  the  headlands  of  Spain,  skirted  the  stormy 
Bay  ot  Biscay,  and  settled  colonies  in  England  and  France.  Who  were 
these  Hittites?  They  were  an  Asiatic  people,  dwelling  in  the  Taurus 
Mountains  of  the  eastern  part  of  Asia  Minor,  who  increased  into  the  most 
powerlul  nation  of  that  part  of  the  world  about  two  thousand  years  before 
Christ,  and  carried  on  wars  with  the  Egyptians,  among  others,  until  at  last 
the\-  were  overcome  by  the  rise  of  the  empire  of  Assyria,  north  of  them, 
about  eleven  hundred  years  before  Christ.  Doubtless  they  explored  the 
Alrican  coast  somewhat  south  of  the   Red  Sea,  and  very  likely  knew  the 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  4 1 

Persian  Gulf  and  the  route  to  India.  My  own  opinion  is  that  we  are 
likely  to  give  the  people  of  antiquity  too  little  credit  rather  than  too  much 
in  the  direction  of  a  knowledge  of  geography. 

Meanwhile  there  was  rising  along  the  Mediterranean  from  Palestine 
northward  the  most  able  commercial  race  of  antiquity,  who  styled  them- 
selves Canaanites,  as  in  the  Bible,  but  whom  the  Greeks  called  Phenicians, 
the  name  by  which  we  know  them  best.  Their  capitals  were  the  cities 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  Syrian  coast 
a  little  way  south  of  Beirut,  and  the  wealth  and  commercial  power  of  which 
will  give  us  some  interesting  paragraphs  for  a  future  chapter.  Suffice  it 
here  to  say  that  their  rulers  were  foremost  among  the  loosely  organized 
"  nations  "  between  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  and  that  they  maintained 
their  power  through  a  long  period,  not  only  by  their  wealth  and  enterprise 
as  traders,  but  mainly  through  their  skill  and  energy  as  navigators.  As  we 
shall  see  when  we  come  to  consider  their  commerce  in  Chapter  VII,  they 
excelled  in  the  building  of  ships,  in  an  understanding  of  how  to  steer  long 
courses  by  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  in  sea  knowledge  generally.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Phenicians  traded  in  their  ships  down  the  w'est  coast  of 
Africa  to  and  beyond  the  Canary  Islands,  which  they  also  visited ;  made 
repeated  voyages  to  the  French  coast  and  the  British  Islands ;  and  may 
very  likely  have  gone  around  into  the  Baltic,  for  they  knew  of  its  amber, 
though  this  might  have  been  obtained  by  the  overland  trade  routes.  It  is 
believed  that  they  ascertained  that  Africa  was,  in  fact,  a  huge  island ;  for  it 
was  to  prove  this  supposition  that  Pharaoh  Necho  (or  Naku  or  Neku)  II, 
an  enlightened  Egyptian  monarch  who  reigned  in  the  sixth  century  before 
Christ,  hired  a  crew  of  Phenician  seamen  to  man  an  expedition  whose  pur- 
pose it  was  to  circumnavigate  Africa.  These  men  started  down  the  Red 
Sea  in  6ii  b.  c,  and  in  605  b.  c.  came  sailing  home  through  the  Strait  of 
Gibraltar,  to  the  delight  of  their  friends  and  confusion  of  a  kingdom  full  of 
I-told-you-sos.^  Just  twenty  centuries  elapsed  before  any  one  else  repeated 
that  feat,  so  far  as  I  know ;  and  no  wonder  it  was  forgotten.  This  same 
Necho  II  did  even  more  for  maritime  commerce,  for  he  attempted  to  com- 
plete the  canal,  begun  long  before  his  time,  connecting  the  Mediterranean 
with  the  Red  Sea,  and  seems  to  have  made  a  passage  along  which  barges 
and  small  boats  might  be  towed,  which  remained  open  for  many  centuries, 

1  This  is  related  by  the  Greek  historian  Herodotus,  He  argues  that  the  construction  of  their  ships,  with  flat 

and  has   often  been    denied,  especially    by   the   older  bottoms  and  low  masts,  enabled  these  hardy  voyagers  to 

writers;  but  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  "  gives  it  ere-  keep  close  to  the  land,  and  to  enter  all  the  rivers  and 

dence,  and  tells  us  that  the  latest  and  best  critic  of  the  harbors  for  food  and  water.     I  think,  therefore,  that  we 

geography  of  Herodotus,  Major  Rennel,  maintains  the  may  believe  that  Herodotus  recorded  what  really  hap- 

possibility  of  such  a  voyage,  and  believes  it  was  made,  pened,  even  if  we  reject  some  details. 


42  '  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

and  in  part  followed  the  line  now  covered  by  the  Suez  Canal.  Earlier  than 
that  Darius,  the  Persian  conqueror  of  Egypt,  had  dug  a  navigable  canal 
from  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea;  and  this  shows  that  there  must  have  been 
large  traffic  in  both  seas  at  that  time  to  justify  such  tasks. 

By  this  time  the  power  and  prosperity  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  had  declined, 
and  Carthage,  originally  a  colonial  city,  had  become  the  most  important 
center  of  Phenician  influence ;  and  from  this  port  there  sailed  a  century 
later  (perhaps  about  500  b.  c.)  an  exploring  expedition  under  a  Carthagin- 
ian king  named  Hanno,  intended  to  study  and  establish  trade  with  the 
West  African  coast.  It  was  a  large  and  powerful  fleet,  said  to  number 
sixt}^  galleys ;  and  that  women  were  taken  as  well  as  men  shows  that  it  was 
intended  to  form  settlements  at  suitable  points,  as,  indeed,  was  done.  The 
account  of  it  has  been  preserved  in  a  short  writing  called  the  "  Periplus,"  by 
an  ancient  but  unknown  Greek ;  and  this  inscription  is  regarded  by  most 
scholars  as  entirely  authentic,  since  all  its  details  conform  to  modern  know- 
ledge, even  though  it  is  impossible  to  identify  surely  the  various  points 
mentioned.  It  tells  us  that  the  terminus  of  Hanno's  exploration  was  an 
island  beyond  a  gulf  called  Noti  Cornu,  in  which  he  found  a  company  of 
hairy  women,  whom  the  interpreters  called  gorillas.  It  was  in  memory  of 
this  that  the  manlike  apes  which  a  few  years  ago  were  discovered  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa  received  the  same  name ;  but  they  are  not  known  any- 
where north  of  the  Kamerun  Mountains,  while  the  farthest  point  any 
critic  is  willing  to  believe  reached  by  Hanno  is  the  Bight  of  Benin,  some 

distance  north  of  the  Kameruns.  It 
is  easy  to  believe  that  the  inquiring 
Carthaginians  might  have  heard  of 
these  apes, — or  perhaps  of  chimpan- 
zees, now  found  as  far  north  as  the 
Gambia  River, —  and  reported  actually 
seeing  them,  in  order  to  add  glory  to 
their  name.  At  any  rate,  this  expe- 
dition increased  largely  the  ancient 
knowledge  of  the  sea  in  that  direction  ; 
and  navigators  now  knew  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic  from  the  Gulf  of  Guinea 
to  the  North  Sea  ;  but  there  the  know- 
ledge of  the  world  seems  to  have  rested  for  more  than  a  dozen  centuries, 
principally,  no  doubt,  because  there  seemed  nothing  beyond,  either  north 
or  south,  to  invite  the  merchants  who  then,  as  ever  since,  have  been  the 
principal  pronioters  of  discovery.      It  is  only  within  the  past  century  that 


AX   EARLY    ROMAN    BIREME. 


^ 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


43 


voyages  of  discovery  have  been  undertaken  purely  for  the  sake  of  the  in- 
crease of  knowledge.  Previous  to  that  the  object  was  always  either  mili- 
tary conquest  or  the  extension  of  trade. 

Attention  was  now  turned  to  the  eastern  seas,  overland  routes  to  India 
and  even  to  China  having  become  well  known  both  to  conquering  armies 
and  to  mercantile  caravans.  The 
coasts  of  Abyssinia,  of  Arabia,  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  and  of  western  India 
were  settled  by  a  semi-civilized  peo- 
ple for  a  thousand,  perhaps  two  thou- 
sand, years  before  the  Christian  era ; 
but  they  were  broken  into  many  inde- 
pendent tribes  ;  and  their  ships,  if  they 
had  any,  only  crept  from  one  harbor 
to  another  near  by,  and  neither  knew 
nor  cared  what  lay  beyond  the  farther 
headlands.  As  time  went  on,  how- 
ever, and  strong  kingdoms  arose  in 
Egypt,  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Persia, 
consolidating  these  scattered  tribes 
into  nations,  it  became  necessary  to 
learn  the  sea-routes  between  more  distant  ports.  Thus  it  came  about  that 
while  the  Pharaohs  still  flourished,  Arabic  commerce  extended  regularly  along 
the  coast  of  Abyssinia,  and  doubtless  as  far  southward  as  Zanzibar,  while 
the  Malays  had  probably  already  reached  and  colonized  Madagascar. 
There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  those  remarkable  ruins  in  stone  which 
the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Bent  has  studied  at  and  near  Zimbabwe,  in  Mashona- 
land.  East  Africa,  are  the  work  of  Arabian  gold-miners,  made  perhaps  a  thou- 
sand or  more  years  ago ;  and  it  is  pretty  certain  that  Arabic  seamen  even 
at  that  date  regularly  traded  as  far  as  the  island  of  Madagascar. 

The  Persian  Gulf  has  been  another  nursery  of  a  seafaring  people  since 
long  before  the  record  of  history  begins ;  yet  so  slow  were  they  to  learn  of 
anything  outside  their  capes,  that  it  was  accounted  a  wonderful  thing  when, 
in  the  winter  of  325— 4  b.  c,  Nearchus,  the  admiral  of  the  fleet  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  voyaged  from  the  mouth  of  the  Indus  to  the  head  of  the  Persian 
Gulf.  Soon  afterward,  however,  under  the  house  of  the  Ptolemies,  rulers  of 
Egypt,  fleets  sailed  regularly  between  Red  Sea  ports  and  India  and  Ceylon. 

But  now  for  many  long  centuries  the  boundaries  of  the  known  world 
were  not  to  be  much  enlarged  (although  methods  of  navigation  were  im- 
proved and  commerce  continued  within  the  limits  of  Roman   and  Arabic 


SHIP   OF   PTOLEMY   PHILOPATOR. 

(About  240  B.  c.     Banks  of  oars  and  lug-sails.) 


44  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN  '- 

dominion),  for  we  know  of  the  discovery  of  no  new  coasts  until  we  begin  to- 
hear  of  the  doings  of  an  independent  and  far  northern  people,  scarcely 
known  to  the  civilized  world,  and  certainly  not  regarded  as  a  part  of  it. 

On  the  bleak  shores  of  the  North  Sea,  where  the  fiords  and  creek- 
mouths  of  Scandinavia  gave  shelter  not  only  from  foreign  enemies,  but. 
from  each  other,  there  had  grown  up  a  seafaring  race  of  men,  of  Gothic 
ancestry,  who  had  settled  on  the  coasts  of  what  are  now  Norway,  Sweden,. 
and  Denmark.  They  styled  themselves  Norsemen,  or  men  of  the  North, 
and  did  not  object  to  the  title  Vikings,  or  Fiord-men  ;  but  their  enemies 
called  them  pirates,  and  with  much  reason,  for  they  ravaged  and  ruled  all 
the  coasts  both  north  and  south  of  the  Baltic,  voyaging  northward  to  the 
"land  of  the  midnight  sun,"  colonizing  northern  France  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, and  taking  practical  possession  of  all  they  pleased  of  the  British 
Isles — Ireland  and  northern  Scotland  in  particular.  Here  these  Norsemen 
met  equally  fierce  foes,  or  found  congenial  partners,  as  the  case  might  be, 
in  the  Scottish  and  Irish  seamen  of  that  day,  who  were  themselves  bold 
freebooters  and  wide  voyagers ;  and  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, the  Northmen  had  discovered,  as  they  supposed,  the  Faroe  Islands 
and  Iceland,  a  little  exploration  soon  showed  them  that  the  Irish  culdees,  or 
priests  of  the  Christian  church  planted  in  Ireland  by  St.  Patrick,  had  been 
there  before  them  —  first  in  725,  according  to  the  Irish  chronicles  of  Dicui- 
Ilis,  who  seems  worthy  of  credence.  Indeed,  it  is  believed  by  some  anti- 
quarians that  these  Irish  sea-wanderers  had  colonized  Iceland  at  the  same 
early  age;  had  reached  Newfoundland,  and  regularly  resorted  to  its  banks 
for  fishing  and  whaling  (five  hundred  years  before  Cabot)  ;  and  were  even 
acquainted  with  the  coast  of  the  North  American  continent,  where  tradi- 
tions assert  that  their  colonies  were  planted  on  what  are  now  the  shores  of 
X'irginia  and  the  Carolinas,  which  they  called  New  Ireland. 

These  are  entertaining  old  stories,  and  may  have  some  truth  in  them,. 
for  it  seems  certain  that  the  Irish  reached  Iceland,  at  least,  in  the  eighth 
century.  Icelandic  history,  however,  begins  with  the  visits  of  Norsemen  in 
8  50,  followed  by  others,  who,  a  few  years  later,  took  colonies  there  and  set 
up  an  island  population  which  before  a  century  had  elapsed  numbered 
more  than  fifty  thousand  people.  They  had  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  were  quite  independent  of  the  King  of  Norway  (Harold  the 
r\iir-haired,  great-great-grandfather  of  William  the  Conqueror),  from  whom 
the  earlier  colonists  had  fled  because  of  his  oppression  ;  but  they  kept  up- 
acquaintance  with  the  mother-country,  and  merchants  and  adventurers  were 
continually  voyaging  between  Iceland  and  all  the  islands  and  coasts  of  that 
region,  using   stanch  vessels   sometimes   one  hundred   feet   in  length,   and 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


45 


eminently  seaworthy;  yet  their  only  guides  were  the  stars  and  such  signs 
as  seafarinor  men  read  in  the  water  and  weather  about  them. 

It  continually  happened,  however,  that  they  were  driven  far  out  of  their 
courses,  in  such  a  region  of  gales,  currents,  and  fogs  as  is  the  North  Atlantic. 
In  one  such  adventure,  in  the  year  876,  a  sea-captain  named  Gunnbjorn 
Ulfkragesson  was  driven  far  to  the  west  of  Iceland,  and  when  he  got  back 
to  port  told  his  friends  that  he  had  seen  land.      Probably  he  also  told  them 


A  WAR   EXPEDITION   OF  THE  VIKINGS. 

Showing  build,  steering-oar,  and  rig  (colored  lug-sail),  of  Scandinavian  exploring  ships  in  the  North  Atlantic. 


that  so  far  as  he  could  see  there  was  nothing  but  icy  mountains,  of  which 
they  already  had  enough,  for  no  one  seems  to  have  investigated  the  matter 
further  until  more  than  a  century  later,  when  a  turbulent  viking  of  the 
rebellious  house  of  Erik,  called  Erik  the  Red,  was  banished  from  Norway 
and  fled  to  Iceland  with  his  followers.  He  was  soon  convicted  there  also  of 
manslaughter  in  a  neighborhood  quarrel,  and  again  condemned  to  banish- 
ment. Iceland  wanted  to  get  rid  of  him  and  his  brawlers,  and  Europe 
would  not  let  him  return.     Whither  should  he  go  ? 

Then  his  thoughts  turned   toward   the  strange   land   in   the  west  that 
tradition  said  Gunnbjorn  had  sighted.      It  is  believed  by  the  most  careful 


46  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

Students  that  Gunnbjorn's  "rocks "were  volcanic  islets,  which  have  now 
disappeared,  and  are  represented  only  by  certain  shoals ;  but  it  would  not 
be  incredible  that  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Greenland  coast  itself. 

At  any  rate,  Erik  had  little  hesitation  in  starting  out  to  rediscover  them. 
Why  should  he?  Those  rough-riders  of  the  sea  were  used  to  voyages  of 
equal  length.  It  is  about  200  miles  from  the  Norwegian  coast  at  Bergen  to 
the  Shetland  Islands;  200  miles  from  the  Shetlands,  or  225  from  the  Heb- 
rides, to  the  Faroes;  and  275  miles  thence  to  the  nearest  coast  of  Iceland, — 
reckoning  all  in  straight  lines,  shorter  than  any  ship  could  actually  follow. 

If  his  viking  boat  and  viking  crew  could  span  those  stretches  of  sea 
unguided,  what  hindered  his  crossing  the  little  further  space  whose  tem- 
pests had  no  terrors  for  this  wild  sea-king?  In  that  unpossessed  land, 
could  he  find  it,  he  might  be  free  to  riot  at  his  will  (but  one  cannot  help 
thinking  there  was  more  in  the  man  than  that !)  ;  and  if  he  could  open 
to  his  people  a  new  country,  what  wealth  and  power  might  not  come  with 
it  to  him,  for  the  humbling  of  his  rivals  at  the  court  of  Norway. 

So  Red  Erik  sailed  away  to  the  west  in  984,  and  two  years  later  re- 
turned to  Iceland  and  reported  that  he  had  met  first  a  far-extending  icy 
coast,  along  whose  front  he  had  sailed  southward  until  he  could  turn  to  the 
west  and  then  northward,  thus  rounding  its  narrow  southern  extremity  (Cape 
Farewell);  and  there  he  had  found  a  habitable  region,  which  he  called  Green- 
land, in  order,  as  he  said,  to  attract  settlers  by  a  pleasant  name.  Thus  this 
wicked  old  Norseman  was  the  first  of  American  "real-estate  boomers." 

Attracted  by  his  story,  a  band  of  adventurers  went  back  with  him  in 
986.  and  established  a  settlement  near  the  site  of  the  present  Danish  town 
Julianshaab,  just  inside  the  cape,  on  an  inlet  that  they  named  Eriksfiord. 

Among  these  emigrants  was  one  named  Herjulf,  whose  son  Bjarne ' 
was  a  merchant  captain  who  owned  his  own  ship,  and  was  then  absent  in 
Norway.  Returning  to  Iceland  shortly  after  Erik's  departure,  he  concluded 
at  once  to  follow  his  father,  and,  with  a  willing  crew  and  still  loaded  ship, 
set  sail  for  the  west.  But  incessant  bad  weather  drove  them  they  knew  not 
whither  during  many  days.  At  last  the  wind  fell,  the  sun  shone  out,  and 
they  saw  land ;  but  its  appearance  did  not  agree  with  the  description  of 
Greenland,  and  knowing  they  were  too  far  south,  Bjarne  turned  north,  and 
kept  on,  occasionally  sighting  the  coast,  until  finally  he  reached  Eriksfiord 
in  safet)-.  No  one  knows  what  headlands  he  looked  upon  ;  but  if  the  Ice- 
landic versified  chronicles  called  sagas  may  be  believed, —  and  the  wisest  stu- 
dents of  history  put  faith  in  them, —  he  was  the  first  European  to  see  America 
ot  whoni  we  have  definite  knowledge. 

1  This  is  not  a  Norse,  but  an  Irish  name,  familiar  to  us  as  Barney. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  47 

Several  years  passed  by,  however,  before  any  one  tried  to  profit  by  this 
accident  and  seek  the  lands  that  had  been  seen  southward.  Then  Leif,  the 
eldest  son  of  old  Red  Erik,  resolved  to  do  so.  He  had  talked  with  Bjarne 
and  his  men  until  he  knew  all  the  details  of  their  story,  and  then  he  bought 
the  same  good  old  ship,  and  enlisted  a  crew  of  thirty-five  men.  This 
happened  in  Norway,  where  Leif  then  was,  and  it  is  said  by  some  that  the 
king  aided  and  authorized  the  expedition.  At  any  rate,  after  a  public  fare- 
well they  sailed  away,  and  seem  to  have  gone  straight  across  the  ocean ; 
but  whether  they  did  this,  or  sailed  by  way  of  Iceland  and  Greenland,  they 
easily  found  the  unknown  coasts  Bjarne  had  described,  and  landed  in  Hellu- 
land,  jMarkland,  and  Vinland,  in  the  last  of  which  they  built  huts  and  spent 
the  winter  of  the  year  looo. 

The  identification  of  these  places  has  caused  much  discussion.  That 
"  Helluland  "  was  Newfoundland  and  "  Markland  "  Nova  Scotia  seems  toler- 
ably certain  ;  but  historians  are  not  agreed  as  to  where  that  winter  was 
spent  in  "Vinland,"  so  called  (meaning  "Wineland")  because  a  German 
member  of  the  crew  gathered  grapes  there,  from  which  wine  could  be  made. 
When,  in  1602,  Gosnold  discovered  a  fruitful  island  south  of  Cape  Cod,  he 
named  it  Martha's  Vineyard,  believing  that  he  had  found  the  place. 

When  Leif  reached  Greenland  again,  the  next  spring,  every  one  was 
vastly  interested  in  his  discoveries,  and  emigrants  from  Greenland,  Iceland, 
and  even  from  Europe  went  out  to  colonize  the  new  lands  ;  but  the  attempts, 
though  spasmodically  continued  for  a  long  time,  seem  never  to  have  been 
really  successful,  so  that  no  undisputed  trace  of  the  presence  of  these  sea-wan- 
derers on  the  mainland  of  North  America  is  known  to  exist.  That  they  knew 
the  coast  fairly  well  from  Disco  Island  (70°  N.  lat.)  southward  to  Virginia, 
is  generally  believed  ;  but  where  Leif  Erikson  spent  that  first  winter,  or  where 
the  Vinland  settlement  of  subsequent  times  was,  is  thus  far  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. Some  students  of  the  sagas  place  it  in  .New  York  harbor,  others 
in  Narragansett  or  Buzzard's  bay,  near  Boston,  or  in  Nova  Scotia.  For- 
merly the  general  belief  was  that  Newport,  R.  I.,  or  the  shore  above  there, 
was  surely  the  site ;  but  this  was  based,  first,  on  the  supposed  European  in- 
scriptions on  a  rock  in  the  Somerset  River,  at  Dighton,  just  above  Fall 
River,  which  were  in  reality  only  Indian  markings  ;  and,  second,  upon 
the  "  old  round  tower"  at  Newport,  which  few  persons  now  believe  was 
built  prior  to  the  coming  of  the  English  colonists  with  Roger  Williams. 
The  late  Professor  E.  H.  Horsford  believed  that  he  had  found  the  site  of 
the  principal  Norse  settlement  of  the  tenth  centiiry,  called  Norumbega,  at 
Watertown,  on  the  Charles  River,  a  few  miles  west  of  Boston  ;  and  he  made 
an  argument  from  old  maps,  etc.,  to  support  his  assertion  that  the  ancient 


48 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


river-walls,   etc.,  there  were  really  the  remains  of  a  town  ;  but  historians 
generally  do  not  attach  any  importance  to  Professor  Horsford's  theory. 

Perhaps  we  shall  never  know  where  this  "  Vinland  "  was  that  Leif  dis- 
covered, and  where  the  queenly  Gudrid  dwelt  and  her  son  Schnorr — the  first 
white  child  in  America  —  was  born  ;  nor  is  it  of  much  consequence  that  we 
should,  for  the  settlements  were  few  and  transitory.  That  they  existed,  how- 
ever, and  that  the  shores  of  Canada  and  New  England  were  occasionally 
visited  from  the  tenth  to  the  fourteenth  centuries  by  Norsemen,  cannot  be 
gainsaid.  That  the  Greenlanders  did  not  all  migrate  to  the  warmer,  well- 
timbered,  and  fruitful  region  in  the  south  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
it  was  so  remote  from  their  kindred,  and  so  open  to  at- 
tack by  the  native  red  men,  whom  they  called  skrellings. 
Over  the  long  but  slow  history  of  these  American 
settlements  of  the  Northmen  we  need  not  linger. 
Although  Vinland  seems  to  have  been  abandoned  within 
a  few  decades,  the  Greenland  settlements  were  main- 
tained. A  republican  government  was  organized;  Christi- 
anity was  introduced,  and  remains  of  their  stone  churches 
and  Augustinian  monasteries  have  been  identified.  By 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  however,  these  colonies 
had  completely  disappeared,  worn  out  in  the  hopeless 
struggle  against  climate  and  the  savage  Eskimos,  but 
exterminated,  at  last,  perhaps,  by  the  Black  Death  — 
for  the  great  plague  which  almost  depopulated  Europe 
in  the  fourteenth  century  seems  to  have  reached  even 
the  desolate  shores  of  Greenland,  and  to  have  consumed  the  last  of 
these  remote  people,  causing  them  to  be  utterly  forgotten. 

A  more  definite  account  of  pre-Columbian  North  America  than  that  of 
the  sagas  and  other  traditions  of  the  Vinlanders,  and  one  accepted  as  true 
by  Mr.  Major  of  the  English  Hakluyt  Society  and  other  competent  geo- 
graphical critics,  is  that  of  the  voyages  and  reports  of  the  brothers  Nicol6 
and  Antonio  Zeno.  These  men  belonged  to  a  family  distinguished  in 
\  enice  ;  and  toward  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  they  separately 
or  together  made  many  voyages  in  the  North  Atlantic,  going  far  beyond 
any  previous  navigators  of  which  they  knew.  They  wrote  letters  home 
containing  an  account  of  these,  but  little  publication  was  given  to  them,  and 
they  were  forgotten  until  the  revival  of  interest  in  geography  following  the 
early  discoveries  of  Columbus.  The  documents  possessed  by  the  Zeno 
family  were  then  made  the  basis  of  a  pamphlet  by  a  grand-nephew  reciting 
what  his  ancestor  had  done,  long  before  the  time  of  Columbus.     The  most 


A   VIKING   GALLEY. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  49 

interesting  thing  in  it  is  an  account  of  how,  about  1390,  Nicolo  Zeno  fitted 
out  a  ship  at  the  Faroes,  went  over  to  Greenland  and  there  learned  of  an 
island  which  was  called  Estotiland,  and  which  we  know  as  Newfoundland. 
Not  very  far  away  to  the  southwest  of  it,  he  says,  was  the  country  of  Drogeo, 
which  fishermen  whom  he  saw  had  visited.  They  claimed  to  have  "dis- 
covered "  none  of  these  places,  but  spoke  of  them  as  formerly  well  known, 
although  then  little  frequented  by  Europeans. 

As  to  Drogeo, —  which  he  speaks  of  as  if  it  were  the  mainland, — that 
was  still  occasionally  resorted  to  for  fishing ;  and  he  relates  the  adventures 
of  a  white  man  who  had  been  captured  by  the  mainland  savages  a  few 
years  previously,  and  adopted  by  them  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of 
how  to  fish  with  a  net,  and  to  do  other  useful  things.  Such  a  course 
would  be  very  characteristic  of  the  aborigines  of  eastern  North  America, 
as  we  have  since  learned  to  know ;  and  it  is  also  natural  that  he  should 
have  been  fought  for  by  rival  chiefs,  as  Zeno  says  happened  to  this  man, 
who,  by  capture  and  exchange,  or  of  his  own  motion,  traveled  about  and 
saw  much  of  the  people  of  this  "country"  Drogeo.  At  any  rate,  the 
information  given  by  Zeno  tallies  remarkably  well  with  the  truth  about 
primitive  North  America  and  its  inhabitants.  "  They  have  no  kind  of 
metal,"  reported  this  wandering  refugee,  who  finally  drifted  back  to  the 
coast,  and  was  able  to  make  his  escape  to  a  fishing-boat.  Now  the  one 
really  remarkable  and  distinctive  fact  about  the  North  Americans  was  just 
this, — that  with  a  considerable  advance  in  other  directions,  they  had  never 
learned  to  fuse  and  forge  or  otherwise  utilize  iron  or  other  metals,  save  a 
little  metallic  copper  and  silver  in  the  Great  Lakes  region.  But  listen  to 
the  rest  of  his  brief  report :' 

They  live  by  hunting,  and  carry  lances  of  wood  sharpened  at  the  point.  They  have  bows, 
the  strings  of  which  are  made  of  beasts'  skins.  They  are  very  fierce,  and  have  deadly  fights 
amongst  each  other,  and  eat  one  another's  flesh  [as  was  true,  to  a  limited  ceremonial  extent,  after 
battles].  They  have  chieftains  and  certain  laws  among  themselves,  but  differing  in  the  different 
tribes.  The  farther  you  go  southwestward,  however,  the  more  refinement  you  meet  with,  because 
the  climate  is  more  temperate,  and,  accordingly,  there  [/.  e.,  in  Mexico]  they  have  cities  and  tem- 
ples dedicated  to  their  idols,  in  which  they  sacrifice  men  and  afterwards  eat  them.  In  those 
parts  they  have  some  knowledge  of  gold  and  silver. 

Now,  whether  all  this  was  the  observation  of  a  single  rude  sailor,  or,  as 
is  more  likely,  summarizes  what  Zeno  was  able  to  learn  from  all  sources  at 
his  command  regarding  the  new  western  mainland  and  its  people,  it  is  cor- 
rect and  forcible.  Had  young  Nicolo  the  editor,  a  century  afterward,  tried 
to  invent  something  of  the  kind,  he  would  surely  have  made  his  invention 
marvelous,  for  that  was  an  age  of  fable  and  bombast.      On  the  contrary. 


50  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

this  IS  a  simple  and  accurate  statement  of  what  we  now  know  were  the  facts. 
Nor  did  he  have  any  means  of  knowing  anything  more  of  the  case  than 
his  family  archives  revealed,  since  he  wrote  and  published  this  account 
of  his  uncle's  voyages  only  a  few  years  after  the  first  return  of  Columbus, 
and  before  any  writer  had  visited  the  northern  American  coasts,  or  had 
learned  the  habits  of  the  natives.  I  can  but  believe,  therefore,  that  the 
report  was  made  in  good  faith,  and  records  simply  what  the  Zeni  did  and 
saw  and  heard ;  and  that  these  bold  Venetian  navigators  knew  more  about 
North  America,  at  least,  before  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  than  Colum- 
bus had  learned  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth. 

I  have  run  ahead  of  my  story,  but  I  wanted  to  show  how  little  impres- 
sion these  northern  investigations  and  occupation  of  a  new  continent  had 
made  upon  the  Mediterranean  "  world,"  which  seems  rarely  to  have  heard 
of  them,  much  less  to  have  profited  by  the  information,  for  more  than  four 
hundred  years,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  was  constant  communication 
between  the  Normans  and  British,  at  least,  and  the  Mediterranean  peoples. 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  those  southern  countries  and  see  what  they  had 
been  doing  toward  maritime  exploration  during  these  thousand  years  and 
more  when  the  Scandinavians  were  so  busy  in  the  north.  It  was  principally 
perfecting  the  knowledge  of  the  world  their  fathers  knew.  From  the  very 
first  men  had  tried  to  make  maps,  and  succeeded  fairly  well  for  small  spaces ; 
but  to  make  a  map  of  the  whole  world  was  a  task  that  defied  human  know- 
ledge for  many  centuries.  After  Aristotle's  time  all  men  of  education  under- 
stood that  the  world  was  a  sphere;  and  about  150  b.  c.  Hipparchus,  bor- 
rowing an  idea  from  the  Babylonians,  taught  the  Greeks  that  the  way  to 
place  their  towns  and  mountains  and  rivers  and  the  outlines  of  the  coast 
correctly  upon  a  model  of  the  world,  was  to  determine  their  position  by 
observations  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Thus  the  ideas  of  latitude  and  longi- 
tude originated.  He  could  not  apply  his  method  practically  very  far,  be- 
cause there  were  few  or  no  accurate  astronomical  observations  away  from  a 
few  cities  in  Egypt  and  Greece  ;  but  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later 
Ptolemy,  a  learned  mathematician  of  Alexandria,  gathered  all  the  facts  ob- 
tainable, and  made  an  attempt  which  bore  a  rude  resemblance  to  the  truth 
and  served  as  the  best  and  almost  the  only  account  of  the  world  for  several 
hundred  years.  Ptolemy  flourished  about  150  a.  d.  His  book  describes 
Asia  as  far  east  as  the  Malayan  peninsula,  Africa  south  to  Zanzibar  and 
the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  and  shows  a  knowledge  of  Europe  as  far  north  as  the 
Shetland  Islands  (Ultima  Thule)  and  Denmark ;  the  original  work  seems 
to  ha\  e  contained  no  maps,  but  these  were  added  to  it  about  5CK)  a.  d,  by 
another  mathematician  named  Agathodsemon.      It  is  called  the  Almagest. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


51 


Nothing-  of  value  was  added  to  this  during  the  long  stagnant  period  of 
the  world  called  the  middle  ages,  when  the  love  of  learning  declined  and 
men  fell  back  into  the  old  traditions,  even  to  the  extent  of  being  taught  by 
their  priests  that  it  was  a  sin  to  believe  that  the  world  was  round.  In  those 
times  the  Arabs  of  Bagdad  nourished  knowledge  more  than  any  one  else, 
but  even  they  did  little  for  geography.  Finally  the  people  of  Europe  began 
to  wake  up  and  look  at  things  for  themselves,  instead  of  tamely  accepting 
whatever  the  Pope  of  Rome  or  somebody  else  told  them,  and  going  and 


"  Off,  thou  Norseland  Terror,  clouding 
Hellas  with  the  jealous  wraith 


Which,  the  gods  of  old  enshrouding, 
Froze  their  hearts,  the  poet  saith  !" 


coming  as  he  directed,  regardless  of  whether  it  was  for  their  interest  to  do 
so  or  not.  One  of  the  first  and  one  of  the  most  important  influences  of  this 
revival  in  a  desire  for  learning  and  the  means  for  larger  activity  among  men 
was  the  sudden  extension  of  navigation  ;  and  this  could  not  have  come  about, 
nor  amounted  to  much,  had  the  mariner's  compass  not  been  invented. 

Nothing  is  more  obscure  than  the  history  of  this  instrument.  The  Chi- 
nese have  certainly  known,  from  a  remote  antiquity,  that  a  magnetized 
needle,  permitted  to  move  freely,  would  turn  north  and  south  ;  but  they  seem 
to  have  profited  as  little  by  it  as  by  so  many  other  useful  things  that,  long 
afterward,  in  the  hands  of  the  more  energetic  men  of  the  West,  contributed 
so  largely  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  They  were  accustomed  to  poise  a 
sliver  of  magnetized  steel  upon  a  bit  of  cork  and  set  it  afloat  in  a  bowl  of 
water.     One  end  was  marked,  but  this,  with  characteristic  Chinese  perver- 


52  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

sity,  was  the  one  pointing  toward  the  south,  not  toward  the  north,  as  with 
us.  This  rude  and  simple  arrangement  is  still  in  use  among  the  Koreans  — 
or  was  until  recently.  With  such  a  contrivance  and  little,  if  any,  knowledge 
of  the  variation  of  the  needle,  the  Chinese  of  a  thousand  years  ago  made 
longer  voyages  than  they  have  done  in  more  modern  times,  trading  not  only 
with  India,  but  sailing  regularly  as  early  at  least  as  the  ninth  century 
to  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf 

There  is  no  direct  evidence,  but  it  seems  incontestable,  that  it  was  from 
these  eastern  mariners  that  the  Arabs  received  the  compass,  and  gradu- 
ally brought  it  into  use  in  their  home  waters,  where  it  became  well  known 
to  the  crusaders  and  other  sea-going  travelers  of  the  middle  ages.  Little 
reliance  could  be  placed  upon  it,  however,  until  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  the  need  for  something  trustworthy  for  long  voyages  made  men  turn 
their  attention  to  the  study  and  betterment  of  it. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  as  I  have  said,  Europe  was 
beginning  to  recover  from  the  terrible  visitations  of  the  plague,  and  to 
wake  from  its  lethargy  and  to  look  abroad ;  and  various  influences  were  at 
work  to  promote  exploration  by  sea  and  land  —  and  what  a  grand  field  for 
study  there  was  ! 

At  this  time  nearly  all  the  commerce  of  Europe,  mainly  in  Italian  hands, 
was  with  India  and  China.  The  overland  route  was  long,  perilous,  and 
expensive,  and  that  across  the  Arabian  Gulf  hardly  less  so.  At  best,  such 
traffic  was  slow  and  limited,  and  the  first  need  of  the  reviving  world  was  the 
discovery  of  some  straighter  and  quicker  road  to  the  East.  In  this  quest 
Portugal  came  forward  under  the  brilliant  leadership  of  Dom  Henrique 
(Prince  Henry),  styled  "the  Navigator,"  who  was  the  younger  son  of  King 
Joao  (or  John)  I,  and  half  an  Englishman,  since  his  mother  was  Philippa 
of  Lancaster.  It  was  Prince  Henry's  ambition  to  extend  geographical  dis- 
covery and  improve  seamanship,  and  he  enlisted  the  help  of  the  best  navi- 
gators obtainable,  regardless  of  nationality.  In  order  to  observe  the 
heavens  to  better  advantage,  and  also  to  study  the  tides  and  other  nautical 
phenomena,  he  established  an  observatory  on  the  bleak  headland  of  Cape 
Sagres,  where  he  willingly  spent  a  large  portion  of  his  time  for  the  sake  of 
science.  Navigation  was  sorely  in  need  of  such  help.  Except  that  they 
had  rude  compasses,  of  whose  laws  of  variation,  etc.,  they  were  ignorant, 
the  seamen  of  that  day  were  little,  if  any,  better  equipped  than  were  those 
who  sailed  the  "  ships  of  Tarshish  "  a  thousand  years  before  that.  Astrono- 
mers had  supplied  them  with  rough  tables  of  the  declination  of  the  sun, 
pole-star,  etc.,  by  which,  with  the  help  of  a  cross-staff, —  a  simple  instru- 
ment for  ascertaining  angles, —  they  might  make  a  guess  at  the  latitude. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  53 

Longitude  was  found  only  by  observations  of  eclipses  of  the  moon,  and 
noting  the  difference  between  the  time  when  it  was  due  at  home,  according 
to  the  almanac,  and  the  local  time  of  its  actual  coming;  but  at  sea  the 
"observations"  were  little  better  than  guessing. 

Chart-making  was  an  important  branch  of  study  at  Sagres.  So  few 
and  rare  were  sea-maps  then  that  one  was  never  seen  in  England  until 
1489.  To  the  collection  of  information  in  this  direction,  and  the  im- 
provement of  nautical  methods.  Prince  Henry  and  his  aids  applied  them- 
selves most  diligently  ;  but  he  died  before  much  had  been  accomplished. 
Nautical  studies  went  on,  however,  under  the  next  king,  John  II,  for  whom 
Martin  of  Bohemia,  the  foremost  astronomer  of  his  time,  devised  a  form  of 
the  astrolabe  for  use  on  shipboard,  increasing  accuracy  in  finding  latitude. 

It  was  with  no  better  instruments  than  these  (and  sand-glasses  in  place 
of  chronometers)  as  guides  over  chartless  and  unsounded  seas  that  the  way 
was  found  to  India  and  to  America,  and  the  globe  was  circumnavigated; 
and  that  the  same  thing  might  be  done  again  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  only 
last  year  (1897)  a  vessel,  which  had  barely  escaped  destruction  in  a  storm 
and  lost  all  her  instruments  in  the  mid-Pacific,  was  brought  safely  into  San 
Francisco  by  observation  of  the  stars  and  "dead-reckoning"  alone. 

But  Prince  Henry  (for  I  have  run  ahead  of  my  story  again)  was  not 
content  to  study  and  teach  on  land  alone.  He  was  fired  with  the  ardor  of 
discovery  and  conquest  likely  to  augment  Portugal's  wealth  and  influence  in 
the  East.  Expedition  after  expedition  was  sent  southward,  and  in  1435 
Henry's  ships  finally  passed  Cape  Bojador.  Great  was  the  wonder  and 
rejoicing  thereat,  for  it  had  always  been  taught  by  the  monks  that  this  cape 
was  the  end  of  the  earth;  but  it  was  not  until  1462  that  the  Cape  Verd 
Islands  and  Sierra  Leone  were  reached.  Prince  Henry  had  been  dead 
since  1460,  but  the  influence  of  his  wise  and  untiring  enthusiasm  and 
work  lived  on,  and  inspired  the  king  and  people  of  Portugal  to  renewed 
efforts  at  solving  that  riddle  of  Africa  that  perhaps  the  Egyptian  sphinx 
was  meant  to  typify.  By  1469  trade  had  been  opened  with  the  Gold 
Coast,  and  a  few  years  later  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  was  found. 

These  advances  showed  that  there  was  nothing  unnatural  or  fearful 
in  the  southern  latitudes,  as  sailors  had  been  taught  to  believe  from  time 
immemorial, —  a  superstitious  dread  which  the  old  chart-makers  long  sus- 
tained by  their  habit  of  filling  the  empty  sea-spaces  on  their  maps  with 
fearsome  and  wondrous  monsters, —  and  therefore,  in  i486,  King  John  II 
sent  Bartholomew  Dias  in  two  sail-boats  —  pinnaces  of  fifty  tons  each  — 
with  orders  to  go  as  far  as  he  could ;  and  this  bold  captain,  passing  the  last 
known  headland  of  the  Guinea  coast,  sailed  on  and  on,  tracing  the  West 


54 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


African  coast,  and  landing  here  and  there  to  examine  the  swampy  shores, 
to  get  fresh  water,  and  to  hoist  the  castellated  banner  of  Portugal  in  token 
of  possession  before  the  wondering  eyes  of  naked  negroes.  At  length  he 
was  blown  and  buffeted  for  days  and  days  in  heavy  storms,  and  at  their 
close  found  himself  far  to  the  eastward  of  his  former  longitude,  whereupon 
he  fought  his  way  on  and  sighted  land  which  he  rightly  determined  must 
be  the  southern  extremity  of  Africa.  This  was  in  1487.  Returning  to 
Lisbon  toward  Christmas  of  that  year,   he  reported  his   experiences,   and 


PORTION    OF   A   FIFTEENTH    CENTURY  SEA-CHART,   BY   TOSCANELLI. 
Copied  by  permission  of  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  from  Justin  Winsor's  "Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America." 


dwelling  especially  upon  the  rough  time  he  had  had  in  the  south,  proposed 
to  style  the  point  of  the  continent  Cape  of  all  the  Storms ;  but  King  John, 
foreseeing  great  things  to  follow  for  his  country,  said,  "  No ;  we  will  call 
it  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope";  and  so  it  remains  to  this  day  —  but  all  the 
storms  remain  about  it,  too  ! 

Now  for  some  years  previous  to  this  time  the  monarchs  of  western 
Europe  were  much  exercised  over  rumors  of  the  existence  somewhere  in 
the  Orient  of  an  all-powerful  and  generally  marvelous  potentate  styled 
(l)y  them)  Prester  John,  and  reputed  to  be  a  conqueror  of  Asiatic,  or  per- 
haps African,  infidels  who  later  had  become  cut  off  from  Christendom.  The 
whole  aftair  was  a  myth,  probably  arising  from  an  indistinct  knowledge 
of  Abyssinia,  whose  negus  afterward  borrowed  the  title ;  but  before  this 
was  realized  popes  and  various  "Catholic  majesties"  had  sent  embassies 
in  search  of  Prester  John's  court,  some  of  which  incidentally  gained  valu- 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  55 

able  information.  Among  the  latter  was  Pedro  Covilho,  an  emissary  of 
Portugal,  who,  having  failed  to  find  Prester  John  in  western  India  or  Per- 
sia, made  his  way  back  to  Egypt  and  Abyssinia,  whence  he  sent  home  in 
i486  or  1487  a  report  of  progress  that  told  John  II  some  surprising  news 
of  the  advancement  of  the  Arabs  of  that  part  of  the  world  in  the  sci- 
ences, and  especially  in  those  belonging  to  geography  and  navigation. 

Covilho's  messenger  was  a  Portuguese  Jew,  Rabbi  Joseph  of  Lamego,. 
who  carried  voluminous  letters,  one  of  which  showed  that  Arabic  mariners 
were  then  familiar  with  the  whole  length  of  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  in- 
cluding Madagascar,  and  were  perfectly  well  aware  where  it  terminated  at 
the  south,  and  that  there  was  no  obstacle  to  passing  around  to  the  western 
side  of  the  continent ;  and  just  at  this  interesting  juncture  Dias  came  sailing 
back  in  his  pinnace  to  say  that  it  was  all  true,  for  he  had  seen  it. 

Thus  the  sea-road  was  open  to  India  and  Cathay,  and  Portugal  was 
eager  to  take  advantage  of  it.  She  was  then  one  of  the  leading  powers  of 
Europe,  and  the  foremost  one  in  colonial  and  commercial  enterprise,  striv- 
ing to  wrest  from  Genoa  and  Venice  the  supremacy  in  trade  that  they  had 
so  long  enjoyed.  Nevertheless  almost  ten  years  elapsed  before  the  next 
expedition  was  sent  southward  to  confirm  Portugal's  possessions,  and  es- 
tablish commerce  with  the  Orient  John  II  had  died,  and  Emmanuel  the 
Fortunate  reigned  in  his  stead  —  a  reign  that  has  been  called  the  heroic 
period  of  the  nation's  history;  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  "Little 
Portugal "  was  then  so  mighty  that  a  year  or  so  previously  (May  4,  1493) 
the  Pope  (Alexander  VI)  had  issued  a  bull  in  which  he  had  divided,  with 
intended  equality,  all  undiscovered  parts  of  the  earth  between  Spain  and 
Portugal,  the  former  being  given  everything  to  the  west,  while  to  Portugal 
were  reserved  all  future  rights  east  of  a  certain  north-and-south  line. 

The  line  of  separation  designated  was  the  meridian  of  no  variation  of 
the  compass-needle.  The  existence  of  such  a  line  had  been  discovered 
by  the  same  Christopher  Columbus  who  was  to  thrill  the  world  a  few 
years  later ;  but  he  did  not  know,  what  only  experience  developed,  that  this 
meridian  was  changeable,  swinging  many  degrees  east  and  then  return- 
ing west  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  centuries.  At  that  time  the  line 
seemed  fixed  some  three  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Azores,  and  philoso- 
phers accounted  for  it  later  by  a  theory  that  it  lay  in  the  middle  of  the 
Atlantic  because  there  it  was  subject  to  an  equality  of  attraction  toward 
both  continents  which  held  it  steady.  This  was  not  true,  but  it  was  better 
than  the  less  learned  but  more  popular  explanation  of  the  magnetism  of  the 
compass — namely,  that  it  was  "an  effluvium  from  the  root  of  the  tail  of 
the  Little  Bear."     A  year  later,  however  (June  7,  1494),  the  treaty  of  Tor- 


56 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


DRAWN    er    HENRY    B.    SNELt. 


"THE   SEA-ROAD  TO   INDIA  AND   CATHAY." 


desillas,  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  declared  that  the  line  of  demarcation 
should  be  the  meridian  370  leagues  west  of  the  Cape  Verd  Islands,  or  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  center  of  the  Atlantic.  The  supposition  that 
there  might  be  valuable  lands  within,  that  is,  east  of,  that  limit,  inspired 
several  of  Portugal's  subsequent  searchers. 

In  1497  King  Emmanuel's  expedition  was  ready  to  sail  —  the  largest 
and  best  equipped,  probably,  that  had  ever  been  sent  out  by  any  govern- 
ment, and  its  commander  was  Vasco  da  Gama,  a  young  naval  officer  of 
renown.  His  fleet  consisted  of  four  vessels, —  small  caravels,  of  course,  one 
of  which  was  commanded  by  Dias, —  and  left  the  Tagus,  after  ceremonious 
farewells,  in  July.  Da  Gama  stopped  at  various  places,  but  reached  and 
safely  rounded  the  stormy  cape  in  November.  He  had  with  him  the  infor- 
mation (and  some  say  an  Arabic  map)  sent  ho'me  by  Covilho,  but  his  business 
was  not  to  verify  this,  but  to  reach  India  and  establish  new  Portuguese  pos- 
sessions. W  hy,  then,  did  he  not  strike  straight  across  from  Cape  Agulhas, 
as  Kast  Indiamen  have  done  ever  since  ?  For  the  P"ood  reason  that  he  had 
uide,  no  means  of  finding  his  way  across  the  southern  ocean,  where  all 


no 


the  stars  were  strange  ;  for  sun  observations  for  latitude  were  then  unknown 
to  European  navigators,  and  rarely  used  on  land.  Instead  of  this,  he  was 
oljHged  to  turn  northward  and  skirt  the  coast  for  a  thousand  miles,  stopping 
here  and  there,  until  he  had  passed  far  enough  north  of  the  equator  to  bring 
above  the  horizon  the  familiar  home  stars,  for  which  he  had  "  tables." 

At  last,  from  the  Arab  port  of  Melindi,  near  Mombasa,  he  turned  east 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


57 


and  sailed  straight  away  to  India,  where  he  anchored  before  Cahcut,  then 
the  most  important  port  of  southern  India,  on  May  20.  Returning  the 
next  year  with  ships  richly  laden,  he  was  received  with  public  rejoicings  and 
given  high  honors;  and  he  greatly  astonished  his  friends  of  the  navy  by 
telling  them  that  the  Arabs  used  the  compass,  sea-charts,  quadrants,  and 
*'  had  divers  maritime  mysteries  not  short  of  the  Portugals." 

Da  Gama  lived  many  years,  and  sailed  often  to  India  and  China  after 
that  ;  but  chiefly  on  political  expeditions,  in  which  he  disgraced  his  other- 
wise great  name  by  inexcusable  rapine  and  cruelty. 

Meanwhile  some  exploration  had  been  done  toward  the  far  north,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  ;  and  so  the  fifteenth  century  ended,  with 
Europe  understood  as  far  as  Nova  Zembla,  Africa  circumnavigated,  and  the 
coasts  of  India,  Malaya,  southern  China,  and  the  larger  Malayan  islands 
fairly  familiar  to  geographers.  This  is  much,  and  yet  it  leaves  unmen- 
tioned  the  greatest  fact  of  all  —  the  work  of  that  grand,  sad  character,  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  upon  whose  grave  near  Seville  has  been  written : 

HE    GAVE   A   NEW   WORLD   TO    SPAIN. 


THE   FLYING   DUTCHMAN. 


•  There,  beyond  the  Cape  of  Storms, 
Where  the  breaker's  voice  of  thunder 
Roars  when  ships  are  rent  asunder. 
Through  a  fog  of  ghostly  forms 


"  Men  catch  glimpses  of  the  sail. 
Ages  old,  and  rent  and  hoary. 
Of  that  quaint  old  ship  of  story, 
And  cry,  '  Vanderdecken,  hail !  '  " 


THE   ROCK   IX   THE   SEA. 


CHAPTER    IV 

(^Continued') 

EARLY    VOYAGES    AND    EXPLORATIONS 


PART  II FROM  COLUMBUS  TO  COOK 

HY  to  Spain?  It  is  an  "oft-told  tale,"  and  the  merest  re- 
minder is  all  that  is  needed  here.  Columbus  was  a  young 
seafaring  man,  born  at  Genoa  about  1434,  and  ambitious 
to  become  a  master  of  his  profession,  and  especially  to 
acquire  great  wealth.  He  traveled  to  Venice,  Barcelona, 
and  other  cities  where  learning  was  to  be  gained,  and  became  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  all  the  astronomical  and  geographical  science  of  the  time, 
and  especially  proficient  in  the  art  of  cartography.  Attracted  by  the  naval 
activity  in  Portugal  under  that  indefatigable  Prince  Henry,  Columbus  went 
to  Lisbon  about  1454,  and  endeavored  to  find  a  leading  place  in  the  sea- 
work  that  country  was  doing.  But  Portugal's  eyes  were  so  blinded  by  the 
glamour  of  Africa  and  the  East  Indies  that  she  had  no  time  to  follow  the 
gaze  of  this  young  and  ardent  Genoese  captain  whose  eyes  were  turned 
steadily  toward  the  west,  where,  more  and  more  insistently,  he  urged  that 
a  sea-track,  straight  as  a  line  of  latitude  marked  on  a  globe,  lay  open  to 
the  Indies  and  the  coasts  of  Cathay.  To  prove  this  true  would  be  not  only 
a  glorious  exploit  for  any  man,  but  an  achievement  of  untold  advantage  to 
the  nation  under  whose  flag  he  sailed. 

Just  how  this  conviction  arose  in  the  mind  of  Columbus  we  do  not  know. 
It  was  probably  first  a  purely  scientific  conclusion  from  the  facts  of  astron- 
omy and  geography  that  he  had  learned,  encouraged  by  romantic  traditions 
of  western  "  Isles  of  the  Blest."  A  few  scientific  men  agreed  with  him,  but  the 
great  influence  of  the  Church  of  Rome  condemned  such  notions  as  opposed 
to  the  Bible  and  revealed  religion ;  and  the  mass  of  the  people,  ignorant  and 
superstitious,  looked  upon  them  as  foolish,  and  laughed  at  Columbus  as  a 

59 


6o 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


dreamer  or  worse.  Between 
his  danger  of  arrest  and  death 
as  a  heretic  on  the  one  hand, 
and  imprisonment  as  a  lunatic 
on  the  other,  the  man  of 
science  in  those  days  had  a 
hard  time.  Columbus  there- 
fore sought  far  and  wide  for 
evidence  to  support  his  the- 
ories and  render  them  accept- 
able. How  much  he  learned 
—  what,  in  the  way  of  facts, 
he  actually  knew  —  it  is  hard 
to  say.  Having  fallen  in  love 
with  a  Portuguese  lady  of 
good  family,  he  married  and 
apparently  settled  in  Portugal 
as  his  home,  but  continued 
his  voyaging.  He  knew  the 
Mediterranean  from  end  to 
end.  He  made  several  voy- 
ages to  the  Guinea  coast,  and 
dwelt  for  a  time  at  El  Mina, 
then  newly  founded,  satisfy- 
ing himself  of  the  foolishness 
of  the  common  assertion  that 
men  could  not  live  "under 
the  equinoctial" — that  is, 
near  the  equator.  He  went 
north  to  and  beyond  Iceland, 
and  acquainted  himself  with 
those  waters,  and  thus  con- 
vinced himself  that  the  ocean 
was  everywhere  navigable, 
and  subject  to  uniform  laws 
of  tides,  weather,  etc.  His 
mind  was  cleared  more  and  more  of  the  mists  of  fable  and  superstition,  and 
all  he  learned  brought  into  clearer  view  the  truth  of  science  as  a  guide.  He 
devoted  more  and  more  attention  to  improving  the  means  of  finding  the 
true  position  of  a  vessel  at  sea,  and  of  keeping  a  true  course  by  the  com- 


rOKlRAIT-STATUE   OF   COLUMBUS   IN   MADRID. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  6 1 

pass,  which  he  continually  studied ;  and  it  was  he  who  first  discovered  that 
some  leagues  west  of  the  Azores  lay  the  meridian  of  no  variation  —  a  me- 
ridian that  has  now  moved  eastward  until  it  lies  near  London.  Everywhere 
he  interrogated  explorers,  discussed  navigation  with  experienced  captains, 
and  sought  the  aid  of  new  maps,  improved  instruments,  and  advancing 
knowledge ;  and  yet  mixed  with  all  seem  to  have  been  a  childlike  vanity, 
credulity,  and  superstition,  hard  to  reconcile  with  his  courage  and  acumen. 

How  much  actual  evidence  he  had  of  the  existence  of  lands  below  the 
Atlantic  horizon  unknown  to  his  countrymen  can  never  probably  be  satisfac- 
torily answered.  The  latest  critical  biographer  of  Columbus,  the  great 
Spanish  liberal  statesman  Emilio  Castelar,  considers  that  he  was  led  to  his 
discoveries  by  little,  if  anything,  outside  of  pure  reasoning  upon  the  rotun- 
dity of  the  earth  and  other  scientific  data,  and  dismisses  as  fables  or  things 
unknown  to  Columbus  all  the  Scandinavian  discoveries  of  Greenland  and 
the  rest,  and  other  stories  of  men  who,  it  is  said,  had  already  seen  the 
transatlantic  world  he  sought.  We  are  told  that  he  learned  of  w^oods  and 
canes  like  none  that  grew  in  Africa,  of  strange  carvings,  and  even  of  the 
dead  bodies  of  men,  resembling  those  of  the  far  East,  being  cast  upon  the 
shores  of  Africa  and  the  islands  near  it,  especially  the  Azores.  It  seems 
impossible  that  when  he  was  in  Iceland  and  the  other  northern  regions,  a 
man  of  his  inquiring  mind  should  not  have  learned  something  of  Greenland 
and  the  continental  shores  beyond,  especially  when  one  remembers  that  for 
centuries  previous  Catholic  missionaries  had  been  reporting  progress  to 
Rome  from  that  distant  but  real  field  of  labor.  It  is  quite  likely  that  some 
knowledge  of  these  facts,  which  must  have  been  known  to  the  professors  of 
the  universities  of  Pavia  and  Barcelona,  where  Columbus  studied,  and  to 
other  intelligent  men  of  Italy  and  Spain  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  had  caused  Colum- 
bus to  go  to  the  north,  for  we  know  of  no  other 
errand.      Perhaps  he  had  heard  of  the  Zeni. 

Especially  to  be  noted  is  the  allegation  that 
Columbus  possessed  information  as  to  the  ex- 
perience of  a  Frenchman  named  Jean  Cousin, 
—  a  Dieppe  sea-captain,  who,  it  is  asserted, 
discovered  South  America  and  the  Amazon 
River  in  1488.  This  claim  has  been  lately 
reviewed  ("Fortnightly  Review,"  January,  1894) 

by  Captain  Gambler  of  the  British  navy,  and  he  decides  that  it  is  good ; 
and  that  it  was  because  Cousin's  first  mate  was  one  of  the  Pingons  that 
that  firm  was  willing  to  assist  Columbus,  as  a  good  investment. 


62  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

Whatever  he  knew  or  did  not  know,  and  whatever  may  have  been  the 
difficulties  in  his  way,  Columbus  spent  many  weary  years  in  fruitless  efforts 
to  interest  some  government  in  his  schemes.  How  finally  he  won  Spain  to 
his  support,  secured  the  aid  of  the  Pin9ons,  merchant  princes  of  Palos,  and 
sailed  from  that  port  on  August  3,  1492, —  and  it  was  Friday!  —  are  details 
that  need  not  be  repeated.  Equally  well  remembered  are  the  story  of  his 
daring  onward  voyage,  and  of  the  glorious  outcome  when,  on  October  12, 
land  was  seen, —  a  new  world  found. 

Expedition  after  expedition  followed  one  another  from  Spain  to  the 
newly  found  possessions,  some  conducted  by  the  earlier  companions  of 
Columbus,  and  all  filled  with  adventurers  who  cared  for  nothing  but  plun- 
der. One  of  these,  led  by  an  officer  named  Ojeda,  reached  the  coast  of 
Guiana  in  1499,  and  coasted  along  the  north  shore  of  South  America 
as  far,  probably,  as  Maracaibo.  This  was  the  first  of  the  Spanish  ex- 
peditions actually  to  set  foot  upon  the  mainland ;  and  it  would  not  have 
been  mentioned  out  of  its  place  (since  Cabot,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  had 
landed  on  the  continent  nearly  two  years  before)  but  for  the  fact  that  one 
of  its  members  was  that  Amerigo  Vespucci  whose  fortune  it  was  to  have  his 
name  attached  to  the  continent. 

Amerigo  Vespucci  (or  Vespusze,  as  Columbus  spells  it)  was  a  Florentine 
engaged  in  the  shipping  business  who  was  attracted  to  Spain  by  the 
maritime  activity  there,  and  became  interested  in  equipping  the  second 
flotilla  of  Columbus  and  in  other  similar  enterprises  for  the  government. 
The  wealth  and  influence  thus  gained  and  his  general  abilities  led  him  to 
join  that  expedition  of  Ojeda  in  1499,  and  during  the  next  four  years 
he  made  three  other  voyages  to  Brazil,  in  which  the  bay  of  Rio  Janeiro 
was  entered  (New  Year's  day,  1501),  and  an  exploration  southward  ex- 
tended probably  as  far  as  South  Georgia  (Islands).  Upon  his  return  from 
this  last  voyage,  in  1505,  he  publicly  asserted  that  he  had  visited, 
in  1497,  ^^^^  coast  of  what  is  now  the  southern  United  States.  It  has 
lately  been  shown  by  Spanish  records,  however,  that  at  that  date  he  was 
busy  in  the  government  dockyards  in  Spain ;  therefore  his  assertion  was 
false.  It  served,  however,  to  deceive  a  forgetful  public,  and  to  procure  for 
its  author  the  coveted  glory  of  being  the  first  "discoverer"  of  the  "New 
World."  as  he  first  called  it  (though  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  understood 
it  to  be  a  continent),  and  hence  the  one  entitled  to  give  it  his  name. 

This  bold  claim  achieved  its  purpose.  The  oldest  known  map  of  the 
wliole  world,  dated  a.  d.  1500,  said  to  have  been  drawn  by  the  great  artist 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  from  data  furnished  by  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  and  hence 
known    to    historians   as  the  "  De  la  Cosa  Mappimundi "  (it  is  preserved 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  63 

in  Madrid),  bears  the  name  "America"  across  the  new  countries  for 
the  first  known  time ;  but  Juan  de  la  Cosa  was  with  Ojeda  and  Ves- 
pucci on  the  expedition  of  1499,  and  doubtless  Vespucci  managed  the  nam- 
ing. In  1507,  only  a  year  after  the  death  of  Columbus,  there  appeared  in 
France  the  "  Cosmographie  Introductio "  of  Waldseemiiller  (also  called 
Hylacomylus),  which  was  regarded  as  the   most  complete   and    authentic 


THE   "SANTA    MARLA"  — THE   FLAGSHIP   OF   COLUMBUS'    FLEET. 

geography  of  its  time;  and  here  the  name  of  America  was  boldly  written 
across  **a  fourth  part  of  the  world,  since  Amerigo  found  it."  The  name 
(a  Latin  derivative)  was  novel,  easy  to  pronounce,  no  one  knew  or  cared  as 
to  the  right  of  it,  and  so  it  stood. 

A  few  lines  more  as  to  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  navigators  in  these 
waters,  and  then  we  shall  have  done  with  them  for  the  present.  In  1499 
one  of  the  Pinions  sailed  from  Spain  straight  to  the  Amazon,  as  has 
been  mentioned,  avoiding  the  West  Indies,  as  if  he  knew  precisely  whither 


64  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

he  was  bound,  and  reached  there  in  January  of  1500.  A  few  months 
later  a  large  Portuguese  expedition  under  Pedro  Cabral,  starting  for  India 
around  the  cape,  was  blown  so  far  to  the  west  that  it  ran  against  Brazil. 
Everybody  was  hitting  upon  untrodden  shores  in  those  inspiring  days,  and 
Cabral  promptly  took  possession  for  his  king.  As  this  shore  was  outside 
(east  of)  the  hemisphere  assigned  by  the  Pope  to  the  Spanish,  the  Portu- 
guese kept  it  for  389  years,  in  spite  of  Pinion's  priority.  In  1508  Ojeda 
obtained  the  government  of  the  northern  coast  of  South  America,  and 
Nicuesa  of  the  region  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Darien;  and  with  the  arrival  of 
these  adventurers  in  New  Spain  began  that  era  of  rapine  and  horror  which 
will  forever  disgrace  the  Spanish  name.  The  rapacious  governors  and 
their  wild  crews  quarreled  and  fought  with  each  other  as  well  as  with  the 
downtrodden  natives,  and  exploration  was  carried  on  by  piracy.  A 
learned  man,  Martin  Enciso,  went  out  to  take  command  in  15 10,  but  he 
was  deposed  by  his  soldiers  the  next  year  and  sent  back  to  Europe,  where 
he  made  the  first  book  printed  in  Spanish  (15 19)  describing  America.  His 
place  was  taken  by  Vasco  Nunez  Balboa,  who  entered  upon  a  career  of 
exploration  and  peaceful  conquest,  generally  conciliating  the  Indians,  who 
told  him  of  another  sea  not  far  to  the  west,  and  on  September  25,  15 13, 
guided  him  to  the  summit  of  a  hill  near  Panama,  whence  he,  first  of  Euro- 
peans, gazed  upon  the  Pacific.  Who  can  imagine  the  emotions  of  such  a 
sight !  —  for  it  told  the  Spaniards  that  this  land  was  not  the  eastern  margin 
of  Asia,  but  a  new  continent.  Balboa  made  his  way  through  the  forests 
as  rapidly  as  he  could,  and  on  the  29th,  wading  into  the  surf,  banner  in 
hand,  took  possession  of  the  waters  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Castile. 

Balboa  at  once  began  preparations  to  utilize  his  discovery,  for  the  Indians 
had  also  excited  him  and  his  men  by  tales  of  a  country  to  the  south 
abounding  in  gold.  He  cut  and  shaped  timbers  for  small  ships,  and  had 
with  enormous  trouble  and  labor  transported  these  across  the  isthmus, 
intending  there  to  build  a  fleet  and  sail  southward,  when  he  was  super- 
seded in  command  by  a  new  governor,  Pedrarias.  This  man,  a  jealous  and 
brutal  adventurer,  on  a  false  pretext  of  disloyalty  arrested  and  beheaded 
Balboa  before  he  could  get  away  —  an  act  that  "was  one  of  the  greatest 
calamities  that  could  have  happened  to  South  America  at  that  time ;  for 
...  a  humane  and  judicious  man  would  have  been  the  conqueror  of  Peru, 
instead  of  the  cruel  and  ignorant  Pizarro."  The  frightful  destruction  of 
the  country  of  the  Incas  soon  followed,  while  Cortes  overran  Mexico  and 
De  Soto  invaded  Florida. 

It  has  doubtless  by  this  time  been  in  the  mind  of  more  than  one  reader 
to  ask  whether,  while  the  men  of  the  Mediterranean  region  were  making 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


65 


A  PEACEFUL   DAY   ON   THE   SPANISH   MAIN. 


these  notable  searchings  for  new  shores,  the  men  of  northern  Europe  were 
standing  idle.  What  were  the  mariners  of  France  and  the  Netherlands, 
Scandinavia  and  Great  Britain,  doing?  Well,  all  were  doing  something, 
and  some  of  them  produced  results  of  novel  seafaring  that  were  well  worth 
the  getting,  but  these  were  principally  in  far  northern  waters,  as  we  shall 
read  in  the  next  chapter.  It  was  not  until  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury that  in  England,  at  least,  that  era  of  far  voyaging  began  which  signal- 
ized the  Elizabethan  age  on  the  sea  as  much  as  the  poets  and  dramatists  and 
statesmen-writers  of  her  court  distinguished  it  on  land. 

It  was,  however,  earlier  than  that —  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII — that  Eng- 
land's story  of  discovery  begins,  and  the  first  names  are  those  of  two  Italians 
known  in  English  as  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  father  and  son,  who 
were  then  residents  of  Bristol.  The  Bristol  folk  were  at  that  time  the 
foremost  mariners  of  England,  who  often  went  to  Iceland  and  all  the  nearer 
isles ;  and  they  firmly  believed  in  certain  traditional  islands  and  coasts  far 
away  to  the  west,  which  seem  to  have  been  composed  of  no  better  material 
than  the  airy  structures  of  the  sunset  clouds  and  the  romantic  tales  of 
Phenician  sailors  and  other  travelers  in  the  dawn  of  history.  As  long  ago 
as  when  Strabo  wrote,  a  century  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  these  things  were 
of  old  belief,  and  he  recounts  the  delights  then  told  of  the  "Isles  of  the 


66 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Blest,"  west  of  the  farthest  verge  of  Africa.  When  the  Canary  Islands  be- 
came known  as  facts,  the  myth  moved  farther  west ;  and  when  acquaintance 
with  the  Azores  proved  them  to  be  only  natural  earth  with  a  fair  share  of 
its  ills,  as  well  as  of  its  good,  people  insisted  that  still  other  islands  must  lie 
farther  away,  where  the  Elysian  Fields  basked  in  perpetual  summer  and  men 
were  eternally  happy.  The  old  idea  charms  us  even  yet  when  we  sing 
"Sweet  fields  beyond  the  swelling  flood  stand  dressed  in  living  green." 
But  no  such  higher  rendering  occurred  to  the  men  of  the  earlier  time. 
They  believed  firmly  in  the  actual  existence  of  these  ever-fortunate  islands 
under  the  sunset  horizon  of  the  Atlantic,  and  (In  the  north)  called  them  the 


\aVAGlXG   TO   THE   ISLES   OF   THE   BLEST. 


Isles  of  St.  Brandon,  the  "  green  isle  of  Brazil "  (the  root  of  which  word 
seems  to  express  the  idea  of  redness,  such  as  appears  in  low  sunset  clouds), 
the  Isle  of  the  Seven  Cities  or  Antillia,  and  by  other  names.  Ferdinand 
Columbus,  a  son  of  Christopher,  says  in  his  "  History"  that  his  father  fully 
expected  to  meet,  "before  he  came  to  India,  a  very  convenient  island  or  con- 
tinent from  which  he  might  pursue  with  more  advantage  his  main  design." 
This  does  not  prove  that  Columbus  put  any  faith  in  the  reality  of  these  old 
notions,  nor  does  he  seem  to  be  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  name  An- 
tilles was  immediately  attached  to  the  archipelago  he  actually  did  meet  with, 
and  TJic  Brazils  to  a  part  of  the  mainland  next  found.  These  names  had 
been  appearing  on  conjectural  maps  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  earth  for 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  67 

many  years  before  his  time ;  and  that  they  represented  realities  to  many 
hard-headed  merchants  and  sailors  of  his  time  is  shown  conclusively  by  the 
fact  that  between  1480  and  1487  at  least  two  carefully  planned  naval  expedi- 
tions had  gone  from  Bristol,  England,  in  search  of  them.  How  much  vague 
memories  of  early  Norse  and  Irish  findings  in  the  west  may  have  given 
weight  in  Bristol  to  these  old  myths  is  hard  to  say;  but  at  any  rate  it  was  there 
the  search  for  this  pot  of  gold  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow  bore  unexpected 
and  momentous  results,  but  all  were  surprised  at  the  distance  involved. 

About  1496  John  Cabot,  then  a  resident  of  Bristol,  proposed  to  the  king 
an  expedition  in  search  of  a  new  route  to  the  Indies  by  sailing  due  west 
from  Ireland.  Henry  VII  was  excited  by  the  news  of  Columbus'  southerly 
findings,  and  was  eager  to  secure  something  of  the  kind  for  England.  Never- 
theless, although  the  king  granted  privileges  that  might  prove  profitable  in 
case  of  success,  he  seems  to  have  furnished  no  money.  Cabot,  therefore, 
sailed  away,  privately  equipped,  in  a  small  caravel  named  Matthew,  carry- 
ing only  eighteen  persons. 

Never  was  a  voyage  of  discovery,  the  consequences  of  which  were  so 
far-reaching,  entered  upon  with  less  pomp  or  flourish  of  trumpets.  So  little 
note  of  it  was  made  at  the  time  that  the  very  name  of  John  Cabot  narrowly 
escaped  being  lost  altogether,  and  the  record  of  his  work  came  very  near 
being  replaced  by  a  confused  account  of  the  doings  of  his  son  Sebastian ; 
for  it  was  not  until  certain  letters  had  been  found — and  that  within  a  very 
few  years — in  the  contemporary  archives  of  Spain  and  other  European  coun- 
tries, that  we  were  able  to  give  any  sure  account  of  the  matter. 

It  is  now  plain  that  John  Cabot,  in  the  Matthew,  leaving  Bristol  early  in 
May,  1497,  and  having  passed  Ireland,  shaped  his  course  toward  the  north, 
then  turned  to  the  west  and  proceeded  for  many  days  until  he  came  to 
land,  where  he  disembarked  on  June  24,  and  planted  an  English  flag. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  mainland  of  North 
America,  and  the  general  opinion  has  prevailed  that  his  landfall  was  the 
extremity  of  Cape  Breton.  Cabot  stayed  some  days,  but  how  far  he  traced 
the  coast,  and  whether  he  learned  of  Newfoundland  or  Prince  Edward 
Island,  are  matters  of  conjecture.  At  any  rate,  he  soon  turned  homeward, 
and  arrived  in  Bristol  probably  on  August  6. 

We  can  imagine  with  what  eagerness  his  story  was  listened  to,  as  he 
told  of  the  fair,  temperate,  well-wooded  land,  its  people  and  animals  and 
fruitfulness,  that  he  had  seen.  But  the  thing  that  impressed  the  Bristol 
men  most  was  the  report  of  the  enormous  abundance  of  codfish  there. 
This  was  something  these  canny  men  could  see  without  any  illusions,  and 
possess  themselves  of  regardless   of  papal   bulls ;  and  they  at  once  aban- 


68  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

doned  their  northern  fishing-grounds  and  began  to  resort  to  the  Banks  of 
Newfoundland,  whither  they  were  quickly  followed  by  large  annual  fleets 
of  Norman,  Breton,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  fishermen.  John  Cabot 
intended  to  go  again  the  next  year  and  make  his  way  onward  to  Japan,  as 
he  believed  he  could  do,  for,  like  the  others,  he  thought  what  he  had  found 
was  only  a  remote  eastern  part  of  Asia ;  and  in  1498  he  actually  did  sail  west- 
ward from  Bristol  with  five  ships,  victualed  for  a  year.  None  of  these  ships 
ever  returned,  and  no  evidence  exists  that  they  ever  reached  their  goal ; 
and  with  them  John  Cabot,  to  whom  England  owed  her  early  suprem- 
acy in   North  America,   disappears  from  view. 

Sebastian  Cabot  was  a  son  of  John  Cabot,  and  a  skilful  map-maker. 
Whether  he  went  wMth  his  father  on  the  first  voyage  is  disputed ;  there 
seems  no  direct  evidence  that  he  did  so.  That  he  did  not  go  on  the  second 
voyage  is  plain,  for  he  had  a  long  subsequent  career,  of  which  accurate 
knowledge  is  a  late  acquisition ;  here  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  by  his 
statements  to  Peter  Martyr  and  others  he  allowed  the  erroneous  impres- 
sion to  pass  into  history,  if  he  did  not  directly  authorize  the  lie,  that  it  was 
he,  and  not  his  father,  who  discovered  America  and  the  fishing-grounds. 

Now  that  the  way  across  the  Atlantic  was  learned,  chivalrous  sailors 
hurried  to  add  what  they  could  to  the  map.  Corte-Real,  a  Portuguese 
of  rank,  struck  northwest,  and  hit  upon  and  named  Labrador  as  early 
as  1500.  The  next  voyage  of  prominence  introduces  the  French  as  com- 
petitors, Francis  I  sending  the  Florentine  Verrazano,  a  typical  sea-rover 
of  the  period,  who  had  already  been  to  Brazil  and  the  East  Indies  and 
was  finally  hanged  as  a  pirate,  to  find  out  what  he  could  about  northern 
America.  He  steered  west  from  the  Madeira  Islands  in  January,  1524, 
found  land  near  Cape  Fear  (North  Carolina),  and  claimed  to  have  traced 
the  coast  as  far  north  as  Nova  Scotia,  besides  entering  a  large  bay  (either 
New  York  or  Narragansett).  His  whole  story,  however,  rests  on  certain 
letters  and  maps  the  authenticity  of  which  has  been  hotly  disputed;  and 
at  any  rate  little,   if  anything,   came  of  this  voyage. 

It  was  far  different  with  the  next  one,  however, —  that  one  sent  from 
France  in  1534,  under  the  command  of  Jacques  Cartier,  who  sailed  from 
St.  Malo  in  two  tiny  vessels  to  Newfoundland,  and  learned  of  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  Then,  like  all  the  other  captains,  none  of 
whom  could  stay  over  winter  in  America,  because  their  vessels  were  too 
small  to  store  provisions,  and  because  they  were  beset  by  fears,  not  only 
of  visible  savages,  but  of  invisible  hobgoblins,  he  returned  to  France.  The 
next  year  found  him  back  again,  however,  this  time  steering  his  vessels  up 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  "Hochelaga"  (Montreal),  and  later  carrying  home  an 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  69 

account  that  led  to  so  immediate  a  movement  on  the  part  of  France  that 
Canada  was  the  scene  of  the  eadiest  colonization  of  the  New  World,  properly 
speaking,  for  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  south  were  thus  far  nothing 
but  military  stations.  France,  indeed,  dreamed  of  obtaining  the  whole  of 
North  America  for  herself,  and  attempted  soon  after  to  colonize  Florida 
and  the  Carolinas;  but  these  attempts  failed,  and  she  was  able  to  hold  only 
the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  shore  of  its  gulf  These  things 
happened  later,  however,  and  for  many  years  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North 
America  was  left  unclaimed  by  any  one,  while  the  English  and  Dutch  were 
busy  in  the  far  north,  the  Spanish  were  riotmg  in  the  tropics,  and  the  Por- 
tuguese turned  their  attention  to  the  southern  and  eastern  quarters  of  the 
globe.  It  is  one  of  the  most  striking  curiosities  of  the  history  of  the  devel- 
opment of  civilization  on  the  globe,  following  the  stagnation  of  the  middle 
ages  and  the  desolation  of  the  plague-ridden  thirteenth  century,  that  the 
most  remote,  unprofitable,  unhealthy  regions  were  so  fiercely  struggled  for, 
while  the  best  parts  of  the  New  World  were  left  until  the  last. 

Having  found  Brazil,  both  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  proceeded  to  trace 
the  continent  southward,  hoping  to  find  a  practicable  way  to  Peru  around  it. 
Several  experienced  navigators  worked  southward,  the  best  known  of  whom 
is  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis,  who  entered  the  La  Plata  River  and  was  killed  there 
by  the  Indians  in  1516.  Columbus  had  not  been  a  moment  too  soon  to  be 
first.  Nevertheless  it  was  left  to  a  stranger  in  those  waters,  the  indomi- 
table Magellan  (Fernao  de  Magalhaes),  to  reap  the  reward  of  success.  The 
Pope  and  all  the  bishops  still  declared  that  the  earth  was  flat;  but  so  little 
was  this  now  believed,  even  by  themselves,  that  Magellan,  who  had  just 
quitted  the  service  of  Portugal,  dared  to  propose  to  "his  most  Catholic 
majesty  "  the  King  of  Spain  to  sail  west  instead  of  east  to  the  Moluccas, 
just  as  though  the  earth  were  globular  and  might  be  circumnavigated ;  and 
the  king  not  only  dared  to  listen,  but  approved  of  the  proposition,  which 
seemed  entirely  practicable  if  South  America  could  be  passed.  That  was 
the  problem  Magellan  set  himself  to  solve.  Should  he  succeed,  could  the 
Moluccas  be  reached  by  sailing  westward,  then  they  would  fall  into  that 
half  of  the  earth  given  by  the  Pope  to  Spain,  and  Portugal's  present  claim 
to  them  would  be  overthrown.  Thus  the  experiment  was  well  worth  mak- 
ing in  behalf  of  politics  as  well  as  knowledge,  and  Magellan  was  furnished 
with  five  ships,  carrying  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  men.  The  Trinidad 
was  the  admiral's  ship ;  but  the  San  Vittoria  was  destined  for  immortality. 

He  struck  boldly  for  the  Southwest,  not  crossing  the  trough  of  the  Atlantic  as  Columbus  had 
done,  but  passing  down  the  length  of  it,  his  aim  being  to  find  some  cleft  or  passage  in  the 
American  continent  through  which  he  might  sail  into  the  Great  South  Sea.    For  seventy  days  he  was 


yO  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

becalmed  under  the  line.  He  then  lost  sight  of  the  North  Star,  but  courageously  held  on  toward 
the  "  pole  antarktike."  He  nearly  foundered  in  a  storm,  "  which  did  not  abate  till  the  three  fires 
called  St.  Helen,  St.  Nicholas,  and  St.  Clare  appeared  playing  in  the  rigging  of  the  ships.  In 
a  new  land,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  Patagoni,  he  found  giants  of  "  good  corporature."  .  .  . 
His  perseverance  and  resolution  were  at  last  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  the  Strait  named  by 
him  San  Vittoria,  in  affectionate  honor  of  his  ship ;  but  which,  with  a  worthy  sentiment,  other 
sailors  soon  changed  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  On  November  25,  1520,  after  a  year  and  a 
quarter  of  struggling,  he  issued  forth  from  its  western  portals,  and  entered  the  Great  South  Sea, 
shedding  tears  of  joy,  as  Pigafetta,  an  eye-witness,  relates,  when  he  recognized  its  infinite  ex- 
panse. .  .  .  Admiring  its  illimitable  but  placid  surface,  and  exulting  in  the  meditation  of  its 
secret  perils  soon  to  be  tried,  he  courteously  imposed  upon  it  the  name  it  is  forever  to  bear  — 
the  Pacific  Ocean.    .    .    . 

And  now  the  great  sailor,  having  burst  through  the  barrier  of  the  American  continent,  steered  for 
the  northwest,  attempting  to  regain  the  equator.  For  three  months  and  twenty  days  he  sailed  on 
the  Pacific,  and  never  saw  inhabited  land.  He  was  compelled  by  famine  to  strip  off  the  pieces  of 
skin  and  leather  wherewith  his  rigging  was  here  and  there  bound,  to  soak  them  in  the  sea,  and 
then  soften  them  with  warm  water,  so  as  to  make  a  wretched  food ;  to  eat  the  sweepings  of  the  ship 
and  other  loathsome  matter;  to  drink  water  that  had  become  putrid  by  keeping;  and  yet  he 
resolutely  held  on  his  course,  though  his  men  were  dying  daily.  As  is  quaintly  observed,  "  their 
gums  grew  over  their  teeth,  and  so  they  could  not  eat."  [This  was  scurvy,  the  dread  of  all 
mariners  in  those  times  and  long  afterward.]  He  estimated  that  he  sailed  over  this  unfathom- 
able sea  not  less  than  12,000  miles. 

In  the  whole  history  of  human  undertakings  [declares  Dr.  John  W.  Draper,  from  whose  strik- 
ing sketch  of  this  achievement  in  his  "  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe "  I  am  quoting] 
—  in  the  whole  history  of  human  undertakings  there  is  nothing  that  exceeds,  if,  indeed,  there  is 
anything  that  equals,  this  voyage  of  Magellan's.  That  of  Columbus  dwindles  away  in  compari- 
son. It  is  a  display  of  superhuman  courage,  superhuman  perseverance — a  display  of  resolution 
not  to  be  diverted  from  its  purpose  by  any  motive  or  any  suffering.    .    ,    . 

This  unparalleled  resolution  met  its  reward  at  last.  Magellan  reached  a  group  of  islands 
north  of  the  equator  —  the  Ladrones.  In  a  few  days  more  he  became  aware  that  his  labors 
had  been  successful.  He  met  with  adventurers  from  Sumatra.  But,  though  he  had  thus 
grand]}-  accomplished  his  object,  it  was  not  given  to  him  to  complete  the  circumnavigation  of 
the  globe.  At  an  island  called  Zebu,  or  Mutan,  he  was  killed,  either,  as  has  been  variously  re- 
lated, in  a  mutiny  of  his  men,  or,  as  they  declared,  in  a  conflict  with  the  savages,  or  insidiously 
by  poison.  .  .  .  Hardly  was  he  gone  when  his  crew  learned  that  they  were  actually  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Moluccas  [having  previously  wandered  too  far  north,  and  discovered  the  Philip- 
pines], and  that  the  object  of  their  voyage  was  accomplished.    .    .    . 

And  now  they  prepared  to  bring  the  news  of  their  success  back  to  Spain.  Magellan's 
lieutenant,  Sebastian  d'Elanco,  directed  his  course  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  again  encoun- 
tering the  most  fearful  hardships.  Out  of  his  slender  crew  he  lost  21  men.  He  doubled  the 
Cape  at  last;  and  on  September  7,  1522,  in  the  port  of  St.  Lucar,  near  Seville,  under  his  orders, 
the  good  ship  Vittoria  came  safely  to  an  anchor.  She  had  accomplished  the  greatest  achieve- 
ment in  the  history  of  the  human  race.     She  had  circumnavigated  the  earth. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  voyage  was  to  impress  Spain's  sovereignty 
upon  the  East  Indies;  but  a  vaster  and  more  far-reaching  consequence  was 
the  influence  it  exerted,  by  its  proof  that  the  world  was  really  a  globe,  to  free 
nien's  minds  from  blind  belief  in  and  guidance  by  a  tradition,  which  had 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS 


71 


taught  that  the  earth  was  a  flat  plain  surrounded  by  water, —  an  error 
sanctioned  by  St.  Augustine  and  other  influential  teachers.  Magellan  im- 
pressed a  name  upon  the  greatest  of  the  oceans,  and  has  his  own  name 
gloriously  emblazoned  upon  both  the  map  of  the  earth  and  the  map  of  the 
sky  in  the  southern  hemisphere ;  but  his  greatest  title  to  honor,  after  all,  is 
that  he  struck  dogma  the  hardest  blow  it  ever  received. 

The  sixteenth  century  seems  to  have  been,  outside  of  the  Arctic  regions, 
an  era  of  surveying  rather  than  of  exploration  by  sea,  yet  some  notable 


SEA-SURF  AT   SANTO   DOMINGO. 


work  was  done  in  the  East,  where  all  nations  now  entered  as  competitors 
in  the  trade,  seizing  upon  every  island  or  mainland  shore  that  they  could, 
and  holding  their  possessions  as  long  as  possible.  Even  the  English  en- 
tered heartily  into  this  rivalry,  the  great  East  India  Company  having  been 
founded  in  1599.  With  its  trading  we  have  nothing  to  do,  but  must  note 
that  it  extended  knowledge  of  Oceanica  considerably,  and  added  greatly 
to  Europe's  information  as  to  India,  the  Malayan  peninsula  and  larger 
islands,  China,  and  Japan.  The  Spanish  and  Portuguese  found  them- 
selves so  busy  in  defending  that  to  which  they  already  laid  claim  that  they 


72  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

had  little  time  to  search  for  new  lands  ;  and  this  sort  of  enterprise  fell 
mainly  to  the  Dutch,  who,  now  that  the  Netherlands  were  at  last  free  from 
the  long  and  cruel  tyranny  of  Spain,  were  energetically  making  up  for  lost 
time.  Their  captain,  Van  Noort,  went  out  by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Ma- 
gellan to  the  Philippines,  and  got  back  to  Rotterdam  between  1598  and 
1 60 1.  Another  fleet  made  the  same  voyage  fifteen  years  later;  and  in  1616 
Cape  Horn  was  rounded  by  Willem  Cornelis  Schouten,  who  gave  the  name 
of  his  home  village,  Hoorn,  to  that  desolate  terminus  of  South  America. 

For  many  years  geographers  had  held  belief  in  a  vast  "southern  conti- 
nent,"—  Terra  Australis, —  and  most  of  the  islands  found  in  the  South 
Pacific  were  accidental  results  of  some  attempt  to  reach  it.  New  Guinea 
had  been  sighted  a  century  before,  and  perhaps  Australia  also,  of  which 
several  navigators  got  glimpses  here  and  there  early  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, satisfying  them  that  it  also  was  a  great  island.  It  was  not  until  this 
century  was  half  gone,  however,  that  the  map  of  that  quarter  of  the  "  South 
Sea  "  was  filled  out  with  any  accuracy;  and  this  was  due  to  the  skill  and  labor 
of  an  eminent  Dutch  voyager,  Abel  Janszen  Tasman,  who  was  despatched 
southward  with  two  ships  by  the  colonial  government  at  Batavia,  where  the 
Dutch  had  already  gained  political  ascendancy. 

"This  voyage,"  we  are  told,  "proved  to  be  the  most  important  to  geog- 
raphy that  had  been  undertaken  since  the  first  circumnavigation  of  the 
globe."  Tasman  sailed  from  Batavia  in  the  yacht  Heemskirk,  on  the  14th 
of  August,  1642,  and  from  Mauritius  on  the  8th  of  October.  On  Novem- 
ber 24  high  land  was  sighted  in  42°  30'  S.,  which  was  named  Van  Diemen's 
Land  (now  Tasmania),  and,  after  landing  there,  sail  was  again  made,  and 
New  Zealand  (at  first  called  Staatenland)  was  discovered  on  the  13th  of 
December.  Tasman  communicated  with  the  natives  and  anchored  in  what 
he  called  Murderers'  Bay,  because  several  men  were  massacred  there  by  the 
natives.  Thence  he  took  an  irregular  course  east  and  north,  until  he  arrived 
at  the  Friendly  Isles  of  Cook.  In  April,  1643,  he  was  off  the  north  coast  of 
New  Guinea,  having  meanwhile  sailed  around  New  Britain  and  New  Ireland 
(now  New  Mecklenburg),  and  on  June  15  he  returned  to  Batavia. 

The  contribution  to  sea-knowledge  of  the  remaining  voyages  in  this 
century  were  mainly  in  the  direction  of  a  better  understanding  of  winds, 
currents,  ice  movements,  tides,  and  an  improvement  in  the  methods  of 
building,  rigging,  and  navigating  vessels  intended  for  long  voyages.  Map- 
making  received  a  great  impetus  and  was  especially  cultivated  by  the 
Dutch,  among  whom  Mercator  became  famous  by  inventing  the  useful  pro- 
jection that  bears  his  name  and  is  still  most  commonly  used.  Neverthe- 
less, the  improvement,  especially  in  instruments  of  navigation,  was  slow. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  'J'^ 

The  astrolabe  generally  gave  place  to  the  cross-staff;  and  this  to  a  better 
device  called  the  back-staff,  of  which  an  improved  form,  invented  by  John 
Davis,  remained  long  in  use.  This  was  called  the  Davis  quadrant ;  and  with 
it  "  the  observer  stood  with  his  back  to  the  sun,  and,  looking  through  the 
sights,  brought  the  shadow  of  a  pin  into  coincidence  with  the  horizon." 
Many  variations  of  this  instrument  were  made,  until,  in  the  middle  of 
the  next  century,  it  was  superseded  by  the  sextant.  Thus  before  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  astronomers  and  navigators  had  learned  how  to 
determine  latitude  fairly  accurately,  and  the  sailor  had  prepared  for  him 
a  variety  of  tables  of  stars,  almanacs,  and  other  mathematical  guides.  The 
determination  of  longitude  was  yet  difficult,  however,  owing  largely  to 
the  imperfection  of  timepieces ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  last  year  of  the 
century,  signalized  by  the  first  recorded  sea-voyage  made  purely  for  sci- 
entific purposes,  that  much  advance  was  made.  This  voyage,  lasting  two 
years  (1699- 1700),  was  undertaken  by  the  eminent  English  astronomer 
Edmund  Halley  for  the  express  purpose  of  obtaining  information  neces- 
sary to  the  improvement  of  the  compass  and  methods  of  ascertaining  the 
position  of  a  ship  at  sea,  was  productive  of  results  of  the  greatest  service, 
and  placed  the  science  of  navigation  upon  a  sure  footing.  It  was  fol- 
lowed early  in  the  next  century  by  the  establishment  in  England  of  the 
Longitude  Board,  a  scientific  commission  charged  with  the  duty  of  deter- 
mining longitudes  and  studying  navigation.  From  this  board  came  the 
"  Nautical  Almanac,"  which  first  appeared  in  1767,  but  similar  almanacs  are 
now  published  annually  by  the  governments  of  almost  all  maritime  powers, 
and  the  editorship  is  esteemed  in  the  United  States  one  of  the  most  honored 
positions  in  the  naval  service.  These  books  contain  ephemerides,  or  tables 
of  positions  for  each  day  of  that  year  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  "predic- 
tions of  astronomical  phenomena,  and  the  angular  distances  of  the  moon 
from  the  sun,  planets,  and  fixed  stars,"  all  referred  to  some  stated  meridian. 

With  such  an  almanac,  an  improved  compass,  and  one  of  Newton's  new 
sextants  as  a  means  of  quick  and  accurate  observation  of  sun  and  moon  and 
stars,  the  navigator  had  little  need  to  doubt  as  to  where  he  was ;  and  maps 
began  to  show  a  corresponding  improvement  in  accuracy. 

The  early  part  of  this  century,  as  we  shall  see  later,  was  the  era  of  the 
buccaneers  and  of  many  wild  sea-rovers  whose  far-wandering  barks,  in 
search  of  adventure,  picked  up  much  information  at  the  expense  of  human 
lives  and  hard-earned  property.  The  foremost  of  these  was  Dampier,  who 
seems  to  have  gone  almost  everywhere  a  ship  could  go,  and  who  found 
out  many  new  things,  which  he  had  the  power  of  telling  well,  as  to  Aus- 
tralasia;  and  the  strait  between  New  Guinea  and  New  Britain,  which  he 


74 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


discovered,  is  named  after  him.  Many  a  commander  was  now  cruising  in 
those  waters,  however,  under  EngHsh  and  Dutch  flags  mainly,  finding  new 
lands  and  pillaging  old  ones  —  such  as  Roggewein,  Anson,  Byron,  Wallis, 


"BUCCANEERS  AND   MANY   WILD   SEA-ROVERS." 

Carteret,  Bougainville,  and  others ;  and  such  important  islands  as  Easter, 
Tahiti,  Charlotte,  and  Gloucester  groups,  Pitcairn,  and  others,  were  found 
during  the  first  half  of  this  century.  But  now  the  English  were  to  redeem 
their  good  name  by  sending  out  a  government  expedition,  or  series  of  ex- 
peditions, whose  object  was  scientific  discovery  and  the  humane  study  of  the 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND  EXPLORATIONS  75 

men  and  resources  on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  instead  of  forced  trade  or 
bloody  rapine.  These  were  the  three  expeditions  commanded  by  Captain 
James  Cook,  one  of  the  most  capable  officers  in  the  British  navy. 

The  first  voyage  was  made  in  1767  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  a  party 
of  astronomers  and  naturalists  to  Tahiti  to  observe  there  a  transit  of  Venus, 
after  which  a  survey  was  made  of  the  then  almost  unknown  coasts  of  New 
Zealand  and  Eastern  Australia.  The  second  voyage  was  to  explore  the 
Antarctic  regions,  whither  the  French  had  preceded  him,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  next  chapter ;  and  we  need  only  say  here  that  Cook  finally  disposed  of 
the  tradition  of  a  vast  terra  australis  —  at  any  rate  a  habitable  one.  It  is 
to  his  third  voyage,  then,  that  he  principally  owes  his  fame. 

This  was  undertaken  in  pursuance  of  the  ruling  idea  of  his  day,  that 
a  sea-route  might  be  discovered  north  of  the  American  continent,  which 
would  vastly  shorten  the  trip  from  Europe  to  China  and  the  Spice  Islands. 
Others  were  seeking  it  directly  by  way  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  Cook  was  sent 
to  attack  the  problem  from  the  Pacific  side.  He  was  given  command  of 
his  old  ship  Resolution  and  a  new  one.  Discovery,  outfitted  in  the  best  pos- 
sible manner,  and  especially  guarded,  in  the  matter  of  provisions,  against 
scurvy  —  that  dread  of  the  old-fashioned  seamen,  in  respect  to  which  Cook 
himself  had  introduced  such  new  and  valuable  preventives  as  would  alone 
have  entitled  his  name  to  grateful  remembrance.  He  was  commanded  to 
revisit,  on  his  way  out,  the  South  Pacific  Islands;  and  departed  from  Eng- 
land in  June,  1776,  steering  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  reach- 
ing the  archipelagoes  in  the  spring  of  1777,  where  he  cruised  for  nearly  a 
year.  In  January,  1778,  he  sailed  north  from  the  Friendly  Islands,  and  a 
few  days  later  hit  upon  a  large,  inhabited,  unknown  group  of  islands,  whose 
principal  one  was  called  Hawaii  by  the  people,  but  which  he  named  Sand- 
wich Islands,  in  honor  of  an  English  earl  who  had  taken  great  interest 
in  his  plans.  Here  he  spent  some  delightful  days,  and  then  bore  away  to 
the  west  coast  of  America,  which  the  English  still  claimed  under  Drake's 
name  of  New  Albion,  and  which  he  struck  near  Puget  Sound.  Thence 
he  went  slowly  along  the  coast  northward  until  he  found  and  penetrated 
the  deep  bay  since  called  Cook's  Inlet.  His  hope  that  this  might  prove  a 
sort  of  northern  Straits  of  Magellan  was  quickly  disappointed,  and  he  went 
on  into  and  through  Bering  Sea  and  Strait  until  he  was  stopped  by  the  ice 
on  the  north  shore  of  Alaska,  at  a  point  still  called  Icy  Cape.  Then  he 
turned  back,  surveying  both  shores  of  the  strait,  and  again  made  his  way  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  where,  in  an  unfortunate  quarrel  with  the  natives,  he 
was  killed.  The  Hawaiians  have  always  said  that  this  was  the  act  of  a 
ruffian  among  them,  and  that  the  chiefs  and  the  best  of  the  people  never 


76 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


wished  nor  intended  any  harm  to  their  visitors ;  and  this  is  probably  true. 
His  executive  officer  took  the  ships  back  to  England  in  October,  1 780. 

The  voyages  of  this  able  and  intelligent  commander  bore  fruit  in  many 
ways.  One  was  the  colonization  of  Australia,  Tasmania,  and  New  Zea- 
land by  the  English,  which  began  in  1 788.  Another  was  the  voyage  of 
Vancouver  to  the  west  coast  of  America  in  1792,  which  intercepted  the  sur- 
veys of  the  Spaniards  there,  under  Quadra  and  others,  and  enforced  Eng- 
lish possession  of  all  the  country  between  the  Californian  settlements  of  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Russian  posts  in  Alaska,  though  he  curiously  failed  to 
find  either  Puget  Sound  or  the  Columbia  River.  A  third  direct  result,  and 
from  some  points  of  view  the  most  important  one,  was  the  opening  of  a  great 
number  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  to  Christian  missionaries. 

By  this  time  there  had  arisen  in  the  New  World  which  these  voy- 
agers had  first  stumbled  upon,  and  then  searched  for,  and  afterward  scru- 
tinized so  carefully,  a  new,  composite  nation,  which  somehow  forgot  that  all 
their  broad  and  fertile  land  had  been  given  away  centuries  before  by  an  old 
gentleman  in  Rome  to  his  friends  the  Spaniards,  and  acted  as  though  they 
thought  it  belonged  to  themselves;  and  by  and  by  this  thriving  nation 
hoisted  a  starry  flag  of  its  own,  and  proclaimed  itself  the  United  States  of 
America.  Then,  not  to  be  behind  European  powers,  whose  navigators 
were  enriching  libraries  with  magnificent  chronicles  of  scientific  studies  in 
sea-science,  such  as  those  of  the  French  "Voyage  of  the  Astrolabe,''  the 
Russian  narratives  of  Krusenstern  and  Kotzebue,  and  the  English  explora- 
tions of  Beechey  (who  was  accompanied  by  Charles  Darwin),  the  United 
States  sent  to  the  Pacific  a  well-equipped  expedition  under  Lieutenant  (after- 
ward Admiral)  Charles  Wilkes.  This  was  gone  from  1838  to  1845,  sur- 
veyed the  west  coast  of  South  America,  wandered  about  Oceanica,  and  did 
its  best  to  penetrate  the  icy  limits  of  the  Antarctic  zone.  The  results  were 
six  magnificent  folio  volumes,  containing  not  only  the  narrative  of  the  cruise, 
but  contributions  to  science  by  James  D.  Dana,  Horatio  Hale,  John  Cassin, 
and  other  men  of  the  last  generation  great  in  American  science. 


CHAPTER   V 

SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 

S  soon  as  the  sea-routes  between  Europe  and  the  far  East 
were  learned,  and  the  American  coasts  had  been  mapped, 
the  region  within  the  Arctic  circle  became  the  most  attrac- 
tive field  for  nautical  discovery.  All  this  earlier  Arctic  ex- 
ploration, however,  was  not,  as  it  has  lately  become,  a  system 
of  scientific  research,  but  was  simply  a  series  of  attempts  to  open  new 
roads  for  commerce  to  follow.  It  occurred  to  every  navigator  that  as  a 
sea-way  had  been  gained  past  the  southern  end  of  America,  so  one  around 
its  northern  border  might  be  disclosed ;  and  perhaps,  also,  a  ship-route 
along  the  northern  coast  of  Siberia.  Either  of  these  would  be  far  shorter 
than  to  go  to  "  Cathay  "  around  either  Cape  Horn  or  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  would  enable  the  English  and  other  northerners  to  avoid  their  enemies, 
the  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  who  commanded  the  southern  waters. 

The  first  Arctic  voyage  of  exploration,  properly  speaking,  was  that 
of  Willoughby  and  Chancellor,  who  in  1553  penetrated  the  seas  north 
of  Scandinavia,  where  they  became  separated.  Willoughby  and  his  men 
tried  to  winter  on  the  coast  of  Russian  Lapland,  but  all  died  of  scurvy. 

Chancellor,  however,  pushed  on  into  the  White  Sea,  reached  a  monastery 
on  the  coast,  and  thence  made  his  way  to  Moscow,  where  he  was  well 
received,  and  thus  opened  a  trade  route  of  incalculable  advantage  to  both 
England  and  Russia.  It  led  at  once  to  the  organization  of  the  Muscovy 
Company,  and  began  a  commerce  now  regularly  carried  on  in  steam  vessels 
to  Archangel,  which  in  1897  was  connected  with  Moscow  by  railroad. 

By  1580  several  other  commanders  had  tried  to  improve  on  this  perform- 
ance, but  none  got  past  the  Kara  Sea,  and  the  next  important  effort  was 
headed  toward  that  "  Northwest  Passage,"  which  for  more  than  three  cen- 
turies was  the  lodestone  of  Arctic  students  and  voyagers.  It  was  in  charge 
of  Martin  Frobisher,  later  one  of  England's  most  conspicuous  admirals, 
who  afterward  made  a  larger  expedition  in  which  he  learned  many  facts 


78  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

about  the  Labrador  coast  and  Hudson  Strait.  Another  Enghsh  seaman, 
and  a  more  scientific  one,  John  Davis,  made  three  remarkable  voyages, 
between  1585  and  1589,  and  increased  the  map  by  a  careful  delineation 
of  both  coasts  of  the  strait  still  called  after  him. 

Shortly  afterward  Dutch  merchants  had  sent  three  expeditions  north- 
ward under  command  of  William  Barentz  to  search  for  a  northeast  passage, 
the  third  and  most  important  of  which  sailed  in  1596  and  found  it  impossible 
to  penetrate  the  ice  east  of  Nova  Zembla  (which  had  been  seen  first  by 
Burrough  in  1556,  who  had  been  shown  the  way  by  Russian  fishermen), 
but  discovered  Bear  Island  and  Spitzbergen.  The  crew  of  Barentz's  vessel 
spent  the  winter  of  1596-97  at  Ice  Haven,  Nova  Zembla — the  first  success- 
fully to  face  a  winter  in  the  Arctic  zone.  When  the  next  spring  came  they 
made  their  way  to  Lapland  and  homeward  in  boats,  but  Barentz  died  on 
the  road.  This  voyage  was  highly  important  in  opening  to  the  Netherlands 
the  whale  and  seal  fisheries  of  that  region  which  has  ever  since  been  known 
as  Barentz's  Sea,  but  it  discouraged  the  hopes  of  a  "northeast  passage." 
In  1 87 1  Barentz's  winter  quarters  at  Ice  Haven  were  found  undisturbed, 
after  a  lapse  of  274  years,  and  in  1875  part  of  the  journal  kept  by  this  brave 
mariner  was  recovered.  Almost  every  year  about  this  time  saw  English, 
Dutch,  and  Danish  ships  going  north,  each  adding  some  new  fact  to 
geography  and  the  knowledge  of  polar  waters  and  ice.  One  of  them,  in 
1607,  ^^'^s  commanded  by  Henry  Hudson,  who  searched  the  North  Atlantic, 
found  Jan  Mayen,  and  pointed  the  way  to  the  Spitzbergen  whale  fisheries; 
yet  he  had  hardly  more  than  a  sail-boat,  and  a  crew  of  only  eleven  men. 

The  following  year  this  intrepid  man  tried  to  go  to  China  north  of 
Asia,  but  failed  as  Barentz  had  done,  and  returned  "void  of  hope  of  a 
northeast  passage."  Nevertheless,  he  tried  it  again  a  year  later  in  the 
service  of  Amsterdam  merchants,  but  his  men  were  obstreperous,  and, 
yielding  to  his  own  inclination  as  well  as  to  theirs,  he  turned  west  to  find 
that  "Northwest  Passage"  in  which  everybody  then  believed  because  they 
hoped,  and  because  of  the  dif^culty  of  getting  so  great  a  fact  as  the  real 
North  American  continent  proved  to  be  accepted  by  the  popular  imagina- 
tion, which  was  used  to  small  things  in  geography.  Very  willingly, 
then,  Hudson's  little  ship,  t\\&  Half  Moon,  was  turned  toward  the  southwest; 
and  it  found  something  better  than  it  sought,  for  the  Hudson  River  and 
the  site  of  the  future  metropolis  of  the  New  World  were  added  to  the  map. 

Hudson's  success  in  this  voyage  led  to  his  immediate  engagement  by  a 
company  of  English  merchants  and  speculators,  who  were  willing  to  risk 
additional  money  in  searching  for  a  northwest  passage  if  he  would  lead. 

In  1 6 10,  therefore,  Hudson  took  command  of  a  new  ship,  the  Discoverie, 


SECRETS  WON  FROM  THE  FROZEN  NORTH 


79 


and  sailing  in  her  to  Baffin's  Bay,  found  the  great  opening  of  Hudson  Strait, 
and  with  high  hope  that  his  goal  was  now  in  view  followed  it  westward  into 
Hudson  Bay.  Here  he  coasted  south  to  what  we  term  James  Bay,  and, 
after  a  comfortable  winter,  resumed  his  examination  of  the  west  coast, 
whereupon  the  majority  of  his  men  mutinied,  set  Hudson  and  several  sick 
men  adrift  in  a  rowboat,  and  turned  back.  Most  of  the  mutineers  died,  but 
the  vessel  was  finally  taken  back  to  London,  where  the  murderers  were 
promptly  questioned  and  nearly   as  promptly  hanged. 

The  story  of  another  remarkable  voyage  closes  the  story  of  this  early 
attempt  at  the  problem  which,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  afterward,  was  to 
be  solved  only  by  proof  of  its  uselessness.  In  1616  another  Discovery  — 
a  caravel  of  only  fifty-five  tons — went  north  from  England  in  charge  of 
William  Baffin.  '*  On  the  30th  of  May  he  had  reached  Davis'  farthest 
point,  Sanderson's  Hope,  in  72°  41'  N.,  .  .  .  and  reached,  ist  July,  an  open 
sea,  the  '  North  Water '  of  the  whalers  of  to-day.  Passing  Capes  York, 
Atholl  and  Parry,  he  yet  pushed  northward,  and  on  5th  July  attained  his 
farthest  point  within  sight  of  Cape  Alexander. 
His  latitude,  about  ']']'^  45'  N.,  remained  un- 
equaled  in  that  sea  for  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  years."  Arctic  success  depends  on  good  luck. 
The  next  century  (1700  to  1800)  was  a  period 
of  active  polar  research  in  the  Old  World.  The 
Russians  completed  their  knowledge  of  their 
Arctic    coasts,    Popoff  reaching    East    Cape    in 

1 71 1,  and  bringing  back  an 
account  not  only  of  various 
islands,  but  also  of  a  conti- 
nental shore  %    eastward. 


FANTASTIC   ICEIiERGS   IN   HUDSON   STRAIT. 


8o 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


It  was  this  report  that  caused  Peter  the  Great  to  set  on  foot  a  costly 
scheme  of  research  upon  the  northeastern  coasts  of  Siberia,  which  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Vitus  Bering,  a  Dane,  in  his  navy,  but  accompHshed 
nothing  of  any  value ;  and  it  was  not  until  1 740  that  Bering  finally  crossed 
over  in  a  blundering  sort  of  way  and  made  a  brief  examination  of  the  coast 
of  Alaska,  where  his  ship  was  finally  wrecked,  and  he  died  of  discourage- 
ment and  chagrin.  He  saw  neither  the  sea  nor  the  strait  that  bears  his 
name,  was  not  the  first  to  reach  the  American  continent,  and  never  learned 
whether  or  not  it  was  connected  with  Siberia.  Nevertheless  his  voyage  had 
fruitful  results,  for  it  led  to  vast  fisheries  and  fur- gatherings,  and  the  writings 
of  his  naturalist,  Steller,  had  and  still  have  great  scientific  importance. 


A  WALRUS   BREEDING-GROUND,   BERING   STRAIT. 

By  this  time  the  whaling  and  allied  marine  industries,  and  the  work  of 
such  excellent  explorers  as  the  Dutchman  Martens,  had  made  mariners 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  North  Atlantic  from  Nova  Zembla  to 
Greenland,  and  a  vast  advance  had  been  effected  in  the  knowledge  of 
navigation  amid  the  ice,  and  in  the  building  and  equipment  of  ships  and  the 
proper  methods  of  provisioning  and  clothing  and  treating  crews  in  order  to 
maintain  health  and  comfort  as  well  as  mere  safety.  These  well-fitted  and 
daringly  managed  whalers  had  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
begun  to  penetrate  far  into  the  waters  west  of  Greenland,  in  spite  of  a 
very  curious  fact,  which  would  make  anybody  but  a  British  whaleman 
pause  —  namely,  that  there  were  no  such  waters.  So  their  best  maps  and 
treatises  said  ! 

Iwo  hundred  years  had  now  passed  since  Baffin's  return  from  his 
wonderful  voyage  of  1616,  and  during  all  that  time  not  a  white  man's  keel 
had  plowed  the  chilling  solitudes  he  had  left,  except  lately  these  venture- 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH  8 1 

some  whalers,  who  did  not  frequent  libraries.  Consequently  Baffin's  work 
had  first  been  forgotten  and  then  disbelieved ;  so  that  at  last  first-class 
maps  were  published  which  omitted  Baffin's  Bay  altogether,  and  books 
were  written,  such  as  Barrows'  "Arctic  Voyages"  (London,  1818),  that 
denied  the  authenticity  of  his  narrative.  As  the  nineteenth  century  opened, 
however,  England  began  to  turn  her  attention  to  the  renewal  of  polar 
studies.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  men  were  reaching  the  coast  of 
their  Territories  here  and  there ;  but  otherwise  the  whole  Arctic  Ocean 
north  of  British  America  was  unknown. 

To  relieve  herself  of  the  shame  of  this  Great  Britain  soon  sent  into  that 
field  a  rapid  succession  of  explorers,  many  of  whom  soon  became  famous. 
The  very  first  of  these,  John  Ross,  despatched  in  18 18,  confirmed  fully  the 
geography  laid  down  by  Baffin  as  far  as  Cape  York,  in  spite  of  the  learned 
book-makers,  and  reported  a  great  number  and  variety  of  interesting 
facts ;  whereupon  a  much  larger  expedition  was  at  once  arranged  and 
placed  in  command  of  a  naval  officer  named  William  Edward  Parry,  who 
went  out  in  18 19  with  orders  to  find  the  northwest  passage,  and  who  had 
in  his  staff  such  men  as  Sabine,  Liddon,  James  Ross,  Reid,  Crozier,  and 
similar  material,  all  stimulated  not  only  by  naval  and  scientific  pride,  but  by 
the  offer  by  Parliament  of  a  reward  of  $100,000  to  him  who  should  first 
discover  the*desired  thoroughfare. 

This  first  voyage  was  a  grand  success.  Forcing  his  way  into  Lancaster 
Sound  in  midsummer,  Parry  found  that  Ross's  report  that  it  was  a  land- 
locked bay  was  erroneous.     As  Greely  tells  it : 

The  mirage-mountains  of  the  previous  year  had  vanished,  and  as  Parry  crowded  sail  west- 
ward, he  opened  a  series  of  magnificent  waterways  hitherto  unknown.  The  way  lay  through  an 
archipelago  (Parry),  with  North  Devon,  Comwallis,  Bathurst  and  Melville  islands  to  the  north, 
and  Cockbum,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  Banks  islands  to  the  south.  Lancaster  Sound,  broken  at 
its  western  end  by  Prince  Regent  Inlet,  gave  way  to  Barrow  Strait,  which  broadened  into 
Melville  Sound,  while  yet  farther  to  the  west  the  encroaching  land  formed  Banks  Strait  where- 
through these  channels  open  into  polar  ocean. 

If  you  will  look  at  the  map  you  will  see  that  this  list  comprehends 
pretty  nearly  everything  south  of  Smith  Sound.  Many  details  of  course 
were  lacking,  and  these  Parry  was  sent  a  second  time  to  work  out,  but  he 
added  really  little  to  geography  by  two  seasons  of  hard  work ;  and  a  third 
voyage,  begun  in  May,  1824,  was  still  more  unfortunate.  These  voyages, 
however,  enabled  Parry,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  Arctic  students 
and  navigators,  to  state  that  the  western  sides  of  all  northerly  and  southerly 
bodies  of  water  are  always  more   encumbered  with   ice  than  the  eastern 


82  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

sides ;  and  to  make  many  most  valuable  improvements  in  ice  navigation 
and  equipment.  His  illustrated  narratives  remain  among  the  most  readable 
books  of  Arctic  experience,  and  little  has  been  added  to  their  accounts  of 
eastern  Eskimo  life  and  customs. 

Meanwhile  (1819)  another  navy  officer,  who  was  ardent  in  the  scientific 
branches  of  his  profession,  as  well  as  distinguished  in  seamanship  and  naval 
warfare,  and  who  had  acquired  Arctic  experience  under  Buchan  in  the  ill- 
starred  expedition  of  18 18,  was  sent  overland  to  cooperate  with  others  in 
defining  the  mainland  coast  of  America.  This  was  Lieutenant  John  Frank- 
lin—  a  name  destined  to  become  the  most  famous  of  all  among  the  ex- 
plorers of  the  frozen  North.  For  several  years  he  and  his  parties  lived  and 
traveled  among  the  Eskimos,  tracing  the  coast-line  from  a  considerable 
distance  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Coppermine  River  westward  almost  to 
Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  where  they  came  within  one  hundred  and  forty-six 
miles  of  meeting  Beechey's  cooperative  examination  by  sea  from  Bering's 
Strait ;  and  it  was  out  of  these  trips  that  we  got  the  valuable  treatises 
upon  the  natural  history  of  British  America,  published  by  his  assistants, 
Hearne  and  Richardson.     This  ended  in  1826. 

The  next  prominent  expedition  was  that  of  Captain  John  Ross  and  his 
nephew  James,  afterward  celebrated  in  Antarctic  exploration  ;  and  it  turned 
out  an  exceedingly  productive  one.  Meeting  fortunate  conditions  in  Lan- 
caster Sound  he  easily  reached  where  the  Fury  had  gone  ashore,  and  re- 
filled his  ship  with  a  portion  of  the  stores  Parry  had  thoughtfully  landed 
and  made  safe  there  —  a  provision  which  later  kept  this  expedition  from  de- 
struction. Then  he  pressed  on  beyond  where  Parry  had  gone,  and  added 
largely  to  the  details  of  his  map,  but  curiously  failed  to  recognize  Bellot 
Strait  as  a  thoroughfare,  and  so  unaccountably  missed  the  thing  he  was 
in  search  of.  Ross  discovered  Boothia  Felix ;  and  during  the  three  winters 
spent  on  its  eastern  shore,  the  younger  Ross,  by  sledging,  discovered 
Franklin  Passage,  Victoria  Strait,  and  King  William's  Land,  and  largely 
explored  their  coasts ;  but  his  most  important  work,  "  giving  imperishable 
renown  to  his  name,"  as  Greely  declares,  was  the  determination  of  the 
position  of  the  north  magnetic  pole  on  the  west  coast  of  Boothia  Felix. 

"The  experiences,  duration,  and  results  of  this  voyage,"  writes  Gen- 
eral A.  W.  Greely,  "are  among  the  most  extraordinary  on  record.  The 
party  passed  five  years  in  the  Arctic  regions  without  fatality,  save  three 
(two  from  non- Arctic  causes),  discovered  a  new  land,  the  northern  extrem- 
ity of  the  continent  of  America,  and  made  other  extensive  geographical 
discoveries.  Its  observations  are  probably  the  most  valuable  single  set  ever 
made  within  the  Arctic  circle." 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


83 


ESKIMOS   IN    SUMMER 
TENTS. 


During  the  third  winter  (1833)  a  rescuing  party  under  Captain  C.  Back 
had  gone  from  England  overland  in  search  of  Ross ;  and  recruited  by  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  men  of  experience  had  descended  Fish  (or  Back's) 
River  to  its  mouth,  thus  noting  a  new  point  on  the  map ;  but  it  failed  to 
reach  Ross.  By  similar  overland  journeys  from  their  trading-posts  on 
Great  Slave  Lake  and  elsewhere,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  men,  es- 
pecially Simpson,  Dease,  and  Rae,  connected  various  points  of  the  coast, 
so  that  before  1850  it  was  known  with  substantial  accuracy  from  Melville 
Peninsula  to  Bering  Strait.  In  much  the  same  way  Russian  sledge-travel- 
ers had  traced  the  northern  Asiatic  coast  by  descending  to  the  mouths  of 
rivers;  but  no  ship  had  yet  succeeded  in  passing  Cape  Chelyuskin,  the 
northernmost  point  of  Asia  or  any  continental  land. 

Then  came  a  period  of  the  keenest  rivalry  and  richest  results  in  the 
history  of  polar  conquest,  but  also  one  of  the  greatest  catastrophes.  The 
expeditions  of  Lieutenant  John  Franklin  in  18 18  and  18 19  were  spoken  of  a 
moment  ago.  His  services  then  and  subsequently  had  been  recognized  by 
the  British  king,  who,  among  other  honors,  had  made  Franklin  a  knight, 
and  sent  him  to  be  governor  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  (Tasmania),  where  he 
remained  from  1836  to  1843,  founded  a  prosperous  colony,  and  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  wisest,  kindest,  and  most  upright  men  of  his  day.  Upon  his 
return  to  England  Franklin  was  made  commander  of  the  most  important 
expedition  that  had  ever  yet  been  fitted  out  to  search  for  the  Northwest 
Passage,  and  his  reputation  brought  the  best  men  as  volunteers  to  his  stan- 
dard. Having  selected  134  officers  and  men,  and  made  the  best  equipment 
possible,  Captain  Sir  John  Franklin  sailed  on  May  19,  1845,  ^^  the  Erebus 
and  Terror,   Parry's  old  ships.     On  the   26th  of  July  they  were  seen  pro- 


84  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

ceeding  prosperously  up  Baffin's  Bay  by  a  whaler,  who  reported  them  in  due 
course,  but  neither  ships  or  crews  were  heard  of  again  for  many  years. 

Anxiety  over  the  long  silence  at  length  aroused  the  people  of  England 
and  the  United  States  to  begin  a  search  for  them  which  lasted  through  many 
years.  It  was  fruitless  as  to  its  first  object, —  the  rescue  of  Franklin  or  any 
survivors, —  but  it  gradually  cleared  up  the  sad  mystery,  and  it  was  the  means 
of  learning  all,  and  more  than  all,  that  Franklin  sought  to  ascertain. 

The  search  began  by  the  despatch,  early  in  1848,  of  Sir  James  Ross  in 
two  ships.  Investigator  and  Enterprise,  which  wintered  near  the  northeast 
point  of  North  Devon,  and  returned  the  following  year  wnth  no  tidings,  al- 
though they  afforded  the  second  officer.  Lieutenant  F.  R.  M'Clintock,  an 
opportunity  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  sledging,  which  he  afterward  used  to 
advantage.     This  failure  only  aroused  England  to  renewed  efforts. 

Many  ships  were  started  out  at  once,  and  also  parties  overland,  of  which 
mention  will  be  made  later.  The  Herald  and  Plover,  during  1848  and  1849, 
scanned  the  whole  coast  from  Bering  Sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie,  and 
discovered  Herald  Island.  Following  them,  in  March,  1850,  went  the  Enter- 
prise, under  Collinson,  and  the  Investigator,  under  M'Clure,  via  Bering 
Strait,  while  the  Assistance  and  Resolute,  with  two  steam  tenders,  under 
Captain  Austin,  went  to  renew  the  search  by  Barr(i,w  Strait,  and  two  brigs, 
the  Lady  Frankliii  and  Sophia,  under  a  whaling  captain  named  Penny, 
followed  them.  The  eastern  expeditions  discovered  Franklin's  winter  quar- 
ters of  1845-46  at  Beechey  Island,  but  no  record  of  any  kind  indicating  the 
direction  taken  by  his  ships.  Admirable  arrangements  were  made  for 
passing  the  winter,  and  their  combined  sailing  and  sledging  work  added 
much  to  the  map  of  that  district,  and  to  our  knowledge  of  life  in  polar 
latitudes,  but  it  learned  nothing  whatever  of  Franklin's  fate. 

Meanwhile  the  expedition  via  Bering  Sea  had  become  separated  in  the 
Pacific,  and  M'Clure,  in  the  Investigator,  got  so  far  ahead  that  he  was  able 
to  pass  through  Bering  Strait  and  work  his  way  eastward  north  of  British 
America,  and  through  the  narrow  Prince  of  Wales  Strait  until  he  reached 
Princess  Royal  Islands,  where  he  wintered.  Here  he  was  only  thirty  miles 
from  Barrow  Strait ;  and  when  he  had  climbed  a  high  hill  and  saw  its  ice 
gleaming  in  the  distance,  he  had  in  reality  discovered  the  Northwest 
Passage.  Yet  he  was  not  the  first,  as  we  now  know,  for  when  the  sur- 
vivors of  Franklin's  ships,  in  their  attempt  to  escape,  had  reached  Cape 
Herschel,  they,  too,  saw  this  same  passage  they  had  been  sent  to  find,  but 
then,  as  now,  it  was  closed  by  perpetual  ice,  so  that  although  we  now 
know  the  way,  we  can  no  more  avail  ourselves  of  it  than  could  they,  except 
by  going  south  of  King  William's  Land,  through  a  strait  of  which  they  had 


A   FLOATING   ICE-CASTLE   OF   THE   FROZEN   NORTH. 
"  Out  from  the  dark,  mysterious  North,  Tingling  with  unforgotten  dreams. 

With  all  its  glamour,  every  night  And  every  day  flood-full  of  light." 


86  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

not  yet  learned.  The  next  summer  was  spent  in  a  fruitless  struggle  to  get 
north  along  the  western  side  of  Banks  (or  Baring)  Land,  in  which  he  suc- 
ceeded only  far  enough  to  get  frozen  in  so  firmly  on  the  north  shore  of  that 
great  island  that  even  the  summer  warmth  did  not  release  his  ship.  He 
would  have  perished  had  it  not  been  that  musk-oxen  were  plentiful ;  and 
by  the  spring  of  1853,  it  was  plain  that  the  Investigato}'  viwxsX.  be  abandoned. 

The  Enterprise  meanwhile  had  followed  M'Clure  in  the  spring  of  185 1, 
and  passed  two  years  in  searching  every  shore  and  passage  she  could  find, 
while  her  men  made  sledge -journeys  far  and  near,  as  M'Clure's  men  were 
doing,  and  once  came  within  a  few  miles  of  Point  Victory,  where  Frank- 
lin's remains  would  have  been  found.  At  last,  in  the  spring  of  1854,  she 
succeeded  in  making  her  way  back  along  the  American  coast,  and  returned 
to  England,  completing  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Arctic  voyages. 

During  their  absence  the  friends  of  Franklin  had  not  been  idle.  The 
apparent  sacrifice  of  this  fine  character  aroused  almost  or  quite  as  much  in- 
terest in  America  as  in  England,  and  Yankee  shipmasters  knew  the  north  as 
well  as  did  the  men  of  England  and  Scandinavia.  Henry  Grinnell,  a  prom- 
inent merchant  in  New  York,  furnished  the  money  to  fit  out  two  ships,  the 
Advance  and  Rescue,  commanded  by  Lieutenants  De  Haven  and  Griffiths, 
of  the  United  States  navy.  They  assisted  in  the  search  about  Beechey 
Island,  then  struck  north  and  discovered  Grinnell  Land,  after  which  they 
returned  before  the  winter  had  closed  in.  With  them  was  a  young  physi- 
cian and  traveler.  Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  who  persuaded  Mr.  Grinnell  to 
send  him  again  to  the  north,  less  to  search  for  Franklin,  whom  he  had 
despaired  of,  than  to  prosecute  explorations  in  higher  latitudes.  In  1853, 
in  command  of  the  little  brig  Advance,  manned  principally  by  whaling  men, 
he  left  New  London,  Conn.,  and  made  his  way  straight  up  to  the  head  of 
Baffin's  Bay,  which  narrows  northward  into  Smith  Sound,  where,  on  the 
eastern,  or  Greenland,  shore  of  its  expansion,  since  called  Kane  Basin,  he 
was  stopped  by  ice  and  remained  a  prisoner  until  rescued  in  1855. 

Dr.  Kane  wrote  the  histories  of  these  expeditions,  and  especially  of  the 
latter  one,  in  books  so  charmingly  expressed,  and  abounding  in  such  novel 
information,  that  they  were  read  like  romances  in  every  home  in  the  land, 
and  did  more  to  fire  the  ardor  for  Arctic  discovery  which  has  ever  since 
glowed  in  this  country,  than  anything  else  that  had  been  said  or  done. 
The  most  immediate  result  was  that  Dr.  L  L  Hayes,  who  had  been  with 
Kane,  took  a  ship  to  Smith  Sound  and  spent  the  winter  of  1860-61  there, 
but  with  little  result.  More  came  from  the  expeditions  led  by  an  enthu- 
siastic journalist  of  Cincinnati,  Charles  F.  Hall,  but  before  speaking  of  these, 
let  us  return  to  the  English  search  for  Franklin. 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH  '     87 

Undeterred  by  the  failure  of  Austin  and  Penny,  or  the  silence  of  Col- 
linson  and  M'Clure,  the  British  government  in  1852  despatched  again  the 
four  vessels  used  by  Austin,  and  added  a  fifth,  the  Assistance,  and  a  store- 
ship,  the  North  Star,  to  form  a  depot  of  supplies  at  Beechey  Island.  The 
old  haphazard  ways  had  given  place  to  very  systematic  methods  of  advance 
and  rescue ;  but  steam  was  little  employed  as  yet,  because  of  the  trouble  and 
cost  of  supplying  coal,  although  two  small  steam  vessels,  as  tenders,  accom- 
panied this,  the  largest  and  most  bountifully  equipped  expedition  that  had 
yet  started  out.  The  fleet,  under  command  of  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  pro- 
ceeded through  Lancaster  Sound,  beyond  which  they  scattered  somewhat, 
and  spent  the  first  winter  in  extensive  sledge-journeys,  during  which  they 
discovered  (by  a  message  that  M'Clure  had  left  on  Melville  Island)  where 
the  Investigator  was  imprisoned,  and  rescued  all  its  people  in  June,  1853. 

This  great  expedition  learned  nothing  of  Franklin,  although  it  did  learn 
much  of  other  Arctic  matters,  and  left  the  map  substantially  complete  south 
and  west  of  Jones  Sound;  but  its  honors  rested  upon  M'Clure,  who,  first  of 
all  recorded  men,  had  really  made  the  Northwest  Passage  by  sailing  and 
sledging  around  the  northern  end  of  America.  The  settlement  of  this  long- 
discussed  matter  had  proved  it  of  no  practical  value ;  but  the  British  Par- 
liament kept  its  Word,  and  gave  ^10,000  (half  of  the  promised  reward) 
to  the  officers  ^.nd  crew  of  the  Investigator,  besides  raising  M'Clure  to 
knighthood.  An  incident  of  this  expedition  is  the  fact  that  Kellett's  aban- 
doned ship  Resolute  survived  crushing  long  enough  to  drift  out  through 
Barrow  Strait  and  Lancaster  Sound  and  down  into  Davis  Strait,  where  in 
September,  1855,  she  was  found  and  towed  home  by  an  American  whaler. 
As  she  was  little  injured,  she  was  presented  to  the  British  government  with 
the  compliments  of  the  United  States,  and  a  few  years  later,  when  she  came 
to  be  broken  up,  a  fine  table  was  made  from  her  oaken  timbers,  and  returned 
as  a  present  to  Uncle  Sam ;  and  it  now  stands  in  the  private  office  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  in  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Washington. 

Two  great  facts  had  now  been  ascertained.  One  was  that  none  of 
Franklin's  men  or  ships  survived.  The  other  fact  was,  that  although  there 
was  plenty  of  water  north  of  the  American  continent,  it  was  so  obstructed  by 
permanent  ice  that  probably  no  vessel  could  ever  make  its  way  through  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  none  has  done  so  yet,  despite  the  determined 
effort  of  the  steam  yacht  Pandora  in  1875,  but  ships  from  the  east  have 
reached  points  also  reached  by  ships  from  the  west.  The  everlasting  ice 
sheet  of  the  polar  ocean,  ever  crowding  down  upon  this  northern  coast  and 
into  the  channels  between  the  islands  north  of  it,  forms  a  barrier  that  will  very 
rarely,  if  ever,  pause  or  open  long  enough  to  let  a  vessel  through,  even  south 


88  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

of  King  William  and  Victoria  lands.  The  outflowing  warm  waters  of  the 
rivers  or  other  influences  may  sometimes  produce  a  narrow  space  compar- 
atively free  from  ice  in  summer  along  the  shore  of  the  continent  and  greater 
islands ;  but  everywhere  off  shore,  and  never  at  a  great  distance,  begins  a 
thick  mass  of  perpetual  ice,  which,  it  is  believed,  extends  across  the  pole  like 
a  cap,  and  reaches  on  the  other  side  nearly  to  Petermannland.  To  this  has 
been  given  the  name  of  the  Paleocrystic  Sea,  or  sea  of  ancient  ice,  and 
nothing  is  known  of  it  beyond  the  blue  clifl"s  of  its  margin  that  confronts 
the  explorer  as  he  gazes  abroad  from  the  hills  of  the  Parry  Islands  or  Banks 
Land,  or  vainly  seeks  in  some  lone  vessel  north  of  Alaska  or  Siberia  to 
penetrate  its  glassy  front. 

So  thoroughly  were  the  islands  of  this  archipelago  explored,  and  so 
unpromising  seems  further  study,  that  Arctic  voyagers  have  long  ceased  to 
risk  their  ships  there,  and  the  story  of  Franklin's  fate  was  finally  learned 
by  land  travelers.  As  early  as  1854  Dr.  Rae  and  a  party  of  Hudson's 
Bay  Company's  men  had  traveled  over  land  and  ice  to  King  William's 
Land,  proved  it  an  island,  and  heard  stories  of  the  death  by  famine  and  cold 
of  white  men  who  could  be  no  other  than  the  Franklin  crew,  as  was  further 
shown  by  various  relics  which  Dr.  Rae  obtained  from  the  Eskimos.  Dr. 
Rae  claimed  and  received  ^10,000  of  the  reward  offered  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment. The  next  year  another  party,  going  down  the  Great  Fish  River, 
recovered  many  other  articles  from  Eskimos  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  and 
on  Montreal  Island.  It  was  evident  even  then  that  every  one  had  perished 
in  an  attempt,  nearly  successful,  to  reach  the  mainland  at  the  mouth  of  this 
river.  Lady  Franklin,  however,  despatched  an  expedition  in  the  Fox,  un- 
der the  command  of  the  experienced  M'Clintock,  which  at  last  brought 
back,  not  her  husband,  but  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  fully  his  fate. 

All  along  the  west  and  south  coast  remains  of  articles  belonging  to  the 
ships  were  found,  and  skeletons  —  two  of  them  in  a  broken  boat;  and  finally 
in  a  stone  cairn  a  written  record  that  briefly  told  the  tale  of  disaster. 

In  1845-46  Franklin  quartered  at  Beechey  Island,  on  the  southeast 
coast  of  North  Devon,  after  having  ascended  Wellington  Channel  to  lati- 
tude ']']'^\  and  returned  west  of  Cornwallis  Island,  which  was  an  exceed- 
ingly successful  season's  work.  In  the  autumn  of  1846  he  had  turned 
toward  the  south,  but  had  been  stopped  by  and  frozen  into  the  masses  of 
ice  that  come  ceaselessly  down  M'Clintock  Channel  and  press  upon  King 
William's  Land.  Had  he  known  King  WilHam's  Land  to  be  really  an  island 
he  need  not  have  exposed  himself  to  this.  During  all  the  summer  of  1847 
the  ships  remained  firm  in  their  icy  bonds.  Sir  John  Franklin  died,  and 
Captain  Crozier  took  command.     The  spring  of  1848  brought  no  hope,  and 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


89 


in  April  the  ships  were  abandoned.  The  crews  started  southward  along 
the  shore,  dragging  two  boats  (one  of  which  was  soon  abandoned)  and 
many  sledges.  The  Eskimos  said  the  men  dropped  down  one  at  a  time, 
from  weakness  and  hunger ;  but  it  is  believed  that  many  of  them  were  killed 
by  the  savages  for  the  sake  of  what  few  things  they  had  with  them  — 
precious  articles  to  those  natives.     It  appears  that  one  of  the  vessels  must 


WORKING  THROUGH   AN   ICE-FLOE,   IN   TOW   OF   A   BERG. 

have  been  crushed  in  the  ice,  and  the  other  stranded  on  the  shore  of  King 
William's  Land,  where  it  lay  for  years,  forming  a  mine  of  wealth  for  the 
neighboring  Eskimos.  Some  years  later  Lieutenant  Schwatka  and  W.  H. 
Gilder,  traveling  with  Eskimo  parties  in  the  region  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Fish  River,  found  the  graves  of  the  last  remnant  of  the  party,  and 
recovered  still  other  relics  of  this  dreadful  calamity.  Let  me  copy  for  you 
here  the  postscript,  written  by  Crozier  and  Fitzjames,  to  the  short  record  of 
their  work.      It  is  startlingly  brief  and  impressive  : 

April  25,  1848.     H.  M.  ships  Terror  and  Erebus  were  deserted  on  22nd  April,  five  leagues 
N.  N.  W.  of  this  [Point  Victory],  having  been  beset  since  12th  September,  1846.     The  officers 


90  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

and  crews,  consisting  of  105  souls  under  the  command  of  Captain  F.  R.  M.  Crozier,  landed  here 
in  lat.  69^3  37'  42"  N.,  long.  98°  41'  W.  Sir  John  Franklin  died  on  the  nth  June,  1847;  and 
the  total  loss  by  deaths  in  the  expedition  has  been  to  this  date  9  officers  and  15  men.  We  start 
on  to-morrow,  26th  April,  1848,  for  Back's  Fish  River. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  attempt  to  chronicle  the  almost  yearly  excursions 
into  the  north,  but  a  few  ought  to  be  spoken  of.  One  such  has  been  al- 
luded to  —  that  of  Charles  Hall,  a  Cincinnati  journalist, —  who  enlisted  the 
aid  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  and  then  prepared  himself 
by  going  upon  a  whaler  and  spending  the  winters  of  1860-61  and  1861- 
1862  among  the  Eskimos  near  Cumberland  Sound,  where  he  found  the 
remains  of  a  stone  house  built  by  Frobisher  in  1578.  Again,  from  1864  to 
1869  he  was  living  with  the  wandering  Eskimo  north  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
preparing  himself  to  undertake  an  expedition  which  may  be  said  to  be  the 
first  whose  avowed  object  was  to  try  to  reach  the  North  Pole.  The  United 
States  government  furnished  him  the  steamer  Polaris,  and  a  small  but 
efficient  body  of  scientific  assistants,  one  of  whom  was  Emil  Bessels.  The 
Polaj^is  passed  through  Smith  Sound,  and  after  completing  the  exploration 
of  Kennedy  Channel,  and  discovering  that  beyond  its  expansion  into  Hall 
Sound  it  continued  straight  northeastward,  forming  Robeson  Channel, 
Hall  stopped  his  ship  and  by  sledge-journeys  reached  Cape  Brevoort,  above 
82^  N.,  whence  he  could  see  the  open  polar  sea.  This  was  not  only  far 
beyond  any  previous  northing,  but  his  work  added  immensely  to  our 
knowledge  of  both  Grinnell  Land  and  northwestern  Greenland,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  further  successes. 

This  sledge -journey  was,  however,  too  great  a  strain,  for  he  had  hardly 
returned  to  his  ship  when  he  sickened  and  died.  The  next  season  (1872) 
Dr.  Bessels  and  Sergeant  Mayer  reached  on  foot  82°  09'  N.,  a  few  miles 
farther  than  Hall.  This  accomplished,  an  attempt  was  made  to  return,  but 
the  steamer  was  soon  inclosed  in  the  pack,  and  drifted  helplessly  southward 
for  two  months,  until  off  Northumberland  Island,  when  a  violent  gale 
loosened  the  pack  and  nearly  destroyed  her. 

At  length  the  danger  became  so  great  that  on  October  15th  boats  and  provisions  were  put 
on  the  ice,  on  which  nineteen  of  the  crew  had  disembarked.  Suddenly  the  ship  broke  away,  and 
the  party  on  the  ice  drifted  slowly  195  days,  and  were  picked  up  off  the  coast  of  Labrador,  in 
53"  35'  ^•'  ^y  ^  whaling  steamer  1,300  miles  from  where  they  had  parted  with  the  Polaris.  The 
party  in  the  ship  reached  Littleton's  Island,  where  they  passed  the  winter,  building  two  boats 
from  the  boards  of  the  vessel,  in  which  they  set  sail  southwards  in  June,  1873.  On  the  23d  of 
that  month  they  were  picked  up  by  a  Dundee  whaler,  and  ultimately  reached  home. 

Only  three  years  before  that  a  very  similar  experience  had  happened 
to  the  smaller  ship  of  a  German  expedition  under  Captain  Koldewey,  of 


SECRETS  WON  FROM  THE  FROZEN  NORTH  9I 

which  the  larger  went  up  the  east  coast  of  Greenland  to  7sH°  N., 
where  a  grim  headland  was  named  Cape  Bismarck.  It  is  just  south  of  the 
land  sighted  by  Lambert  in  1670,  The  little  I/ansa,  however,  was  crushed 
in  the  ice  near  Scoresby  Sound.  The  crew  escaped  to  the  floe,  where  they 
built  a  house  of  blocks  of  patent  fuel,  filled  it  with  provisions,  and  trusted 
themselves  to  the  great  Arctic  current  which  carried  them  south,  at  the  rate 
of  about  sixty-five  miles  a  day  at  first,  until  finally,  in  June,  1870,  it  took 
them  to  the  Moravian  missions  near  Cape  Farewell,  more  than  twelve 
hundred  miles  from  where  they  were  wrecked. 

The  seas  and  archipelagoes  north  of  Europe  were  being  questioned, 
all  this  time,  as  well  as  those  north  of  America.  The  Norwegian  fishermen 
had  been  familiar  with  Spitzbergen  waters  from  long  ago,  but  it  was  not 
until  1863  that  the  group  was  circumnavigated.  The  next  year  Captain 
Tobieson  sailed  around  Northeast  Land,  and  in  1870  Nova  Zembla  was  cir- 
cumnavigated, and  the  mouth  of  the  Obi  reached. 

The  men  who  did  these  feats  were  sealers  or  shark-fishers  in  small 
stanch  Norwegian  schooners,  which  flocked  in  Barentz  Sea  at  this  period, 
and  they  furnished  invaluable  material,  as  did  the  whalers  and  sealers  of 
American  and  Scotch  ports,  for  the  ice-pilots  and  crews  of  the  scientific 
expeditions  which  now  began  to  go  to  the  north :  moreover  many  of  the 
commanders  were  trained  by  amateur  service  in  such  vessels.  It  was  thus 
Nordenskjold  began  his  experiences  in  1864.  Among  these  earlier  expedi- 
tions was  an  Austrian  naval  lieutenant,  Julius  von  Payer,  who  became  nota- 
ble, not  only  because  he  interested  a  new  nation  in  Arctic  research,  but 
because  of  his  discoveries.  His  first  experience  was  with  the  German  expe- 
dition to  Greenland  in  1869,  and  in  1871  he  and  another  Austrian  navy 
officer  named  Weyprecht  spent  the  summer  in  examining  the  edge  of  the 
ice  between  Spitzbergen  and  Nova  Zembla. 

Their  observations  led  them  to  project  an  expedition  to  try  again  at 
that  place  to  penetrate  eastward,  and  effect  the  Northeast  Passage,  which 
had  been  regarded  as  hopeless  for  the  past  hundred  years.  The  idea  of 
making  an  Austro-Hungarian  expedition  of  it  aroused  great  enthusiasm  in 
that  empire,  and  Payer  and  Weyprecht  were  furnished  with  the  large 
steamer  Tegethoff,  equipped  as  well  as  possible,  with  Weyprecht  in  com- 
mand, while  von  Payer  was  to  lead  all  sledge-parties.  She  reached  the 
northern  end  of  Nova  Zembla  in  time  to  get  into  comfortable  winter  quar- 
ters, but  instead  of  escaping  in  the  spring  was  kept  imprisoned  in  the  ice, 
drifting  steadily  northward  before  the  prevailing  wind  until,  in  October, 
land  was  approached,  near  which  the  ship  again  became  a  fixture  for  the 
winter  of  1873-74.     In  March  Payer  began  to  make  exploratory  journeys, 


92 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


A   SUMxMER   SCENE   OFF   NOVA   ZEMBLA 


and  found  that  they  had  discovered  a  group  of  mountainous  islands, 
separated  by  broad  and  deep  channels,  which  he  named  Francis  Joseph 
Land,   in  honor  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria-Hungary. 

By  this  time  summer  was  approaching,  when  it  was  plain  that  the 
7\-o-ci/i off  must  be  abandoned,  and  an  attempt  made  to  get  home  afoot.  On 
the  24th  of  May  three  boats  were  placed  on  sledges,  other  sledges  were 
loaded  with  provisions,  and  the  ship's  company  started  on  another  one  of 
those  Arctic  marches  that  often  end  at  so  sad  a  goal.  Until  the  14th  of 
August  they  were  plodding  over  the  ice  before  they  reached  the  edge  of  the 


SECRETS  WON  FROM  THE  FROZEN  NORTH  93 

pack  and  launched  their  boats,  in  which  they  sailed  for  three  weeks  before 
being  picked  up  by  a  Russian  vessel. 

This  has  always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  in 
polar  work  of  this  century,  not  only  because  of  the  heroism  and  skill  shown, 
and  the  new  lands  discovered,  but  because  it  promised  so  much  for  the 
future  —  a  promise  that  has  been  largely  fulfilled. 

The  next  important  expedition  was  another  attack  upon  the  Northeast 
Passage,  the  hope  of  which  would  not  "down";  and  it  was  under  the 
leadership  of  Professor  Adolf  Erik  Nordenskjold,  a  Swedish  geologist  and 
naturalist  of  Stockholm,  although  born  in  Finland,  who  had  made  several 
previous  journeys  to  Greenland,  Spitzbergen,  etc.,  which  were  fruitful  of 
scientific  results.  Then  he  turned  his  attention  to  Siberia;  and  in  1875  ^"^ 
again  in  1876  he  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei,  as  also  Captain 
Wiggins  of  Sunderland,  England,  was  then  doing,  in  a  profitable  trade 
with  the  Siberians,  which  has  been  kept  up  more  or  less  regularly  ever 
since.  These  experiences  convinced  him  that  it  was  worth  while  to  try 
once  more  to  work  one's  way  through  the  Siberian  ocean  to  Bering  Strait. 

He  obtained  and  outfitted  the  steamer  Vega,  and  arranged  that  a  smaller 
supply-steamer,  the  Lena,  should  accompany  him  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Lena  —  a  bold  proposition  in  itself,  for  that  was  a  thousand  miles  be- 
yond the  Yenisei.  Nevertheless,  this  program  was  carried  out ;  for  leaving 
Gothenberg  on  July  4,  1878,  a  month  later  they  were  traversing  the  Kara 
Sea,  and  on  August  19  passed  Cape  Chelyuskin,  which,  up  to  that  time, 
had  defied  all  attempts  and  has  since  closed  the  gate  to  all  but  the  daring 
Nansen.  A  week  later  the  mouth  of  the  Lena  was  reached,  and  the  little 
tender,  unloading  her  coal  and  other  stores  into  the  depleted  hold  of  the 
Vega,  turned  west,  and  actually  sailed  back  to  civilization  uninjured. 

The  Vega  then  hastened  on  eastward,  and  came  near  getting  right 
through  to  Bering  Strait  in  that  one  season ;  but  this  was  more  than  the 
indulgent  Arctic  gods  could  grant,  and  at  the  end  of  September  the  men 
found  themselves  frozen  into  the  ice  off  North  Cape  (where  Cook  turned 
back  in  1778),  only  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  Bering  Strait. 
Here  they  were  near  shore,  the  country  was  inhabited  by  Tchuktches — a 
nomadic  people,  with  herds  of  reindeer,  who  take  the  place  in  Siberia  of 
the  Eskimos  of  Arctic  America ;  and  the  time  was  well  spent  in  gathering 
a  knowledge  of  these  people  and  their  country,  and  in  making  very  valu- 
able collections  in  zoology  and  anthropology. 

It  was  not  until  July  18,  1879,  however,  that  their  prison-gates  opened, 
and  the  Vega  steamed  on.  These  waters  were  familiar  enough  to  naviga- 
tors;   and    Nordenskjold   proceeded   straight  east,   passed  down   through 


94  THE    BOOK    OF   THE    OCEAN 

Bering  Strait  on  the  next  day  but  one  (so  near  was  he),  and  thus  easily 
accomplished  that  which  had  baffled  men  since  first  it  had  been  tried  by  the 
unfortunate  Willoughby  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  before. 

But  though  the  Northeast  Passage  had  thus  been  found,  it  was  of  no 
more  practical  value  to  commerce  than  the  solving  of  the  Northwest  Passage 
had  been,  and  the  value  received  from  the  cruise  was  in  the  scientific  infor- 
mation gained,  the  more  accurate  delineation  of  the  coast,  and  the  increased 
knowledge  of  winds,  currents,  magnetic  phenomena,  and  the  behavior  of  the 
floating  ice-fields  on  that  side  of  the  polar  area.  When  at  last,  however,  the 
Vega  had  circumnavigated  the  globe  by  this  extraordinary  course,  returning 
home  through  the  Suez  Canal,  as  no  Arctic  expedition  had  ever  been 
expected  to  do,  its  commander  was  made  a  baron,  and  all  his  men  were 
loaded  with  praises  and  honors,  while  his  book,  "The  Voyage  of  the 
Vega,''  printed  in  four  or  five  languages,  spread  their  fame  throughout 
the    world. 

Now  while  the  Vega  was  drifting  slowly  about  northeast  of  Siberia 
during  that  early  summer  of  1879,  not  only  were  Schwatka  hunting  for 
Franklin  relics  with  the  Eskimos  of  King  William's  Land,  the  Danish  Cap- 
tain Jansen  tracing  the  northeast  coast  of  Greenland,  and  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish explorers  investigating  the  neighborhood  of  Francis  Joseph  Land,  but 
within  a  few  leagues  of  Nordenskjold  and  his  men  there  was  beginning  one 
of  the  most  dreadful  of  those  tragedies  that  have  seared  with  suffering  the 
track  of  Arctic  exploration  since  men  began  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of  the 
frozen  North:   I  mean  the  story  of  the  Jeannette. 

Many  readers  of  this  book  will  easily  remember  the  intense  interest  which 
the  starting  of  this  expedition  created  in  the  United  States,  for  it  was  organ- 
ized at  the  suggestion  and  expense  of  James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  proprietor 
of  the  New  York  Herald.  The  government  cooperated,  however,  lending 
from  its  navy  the  officers  and  men  needful,  and  otherwise  aiding  the  project. 
The  vessel  itself  was  the  steam  yacht  Pandora,  which  had  been  proved  a 
worthy  craft  by  Sir  Allen  Young  in  his  search  for  the  magnetic  pole  in  1875, 
and  which  Mr.  Bennett  had  bought  and  rechristened. 

Supplied  with  everything  science  and  experience  could  suggest,  the  Jean- 
nette sailed  from  San  Francisco  on  July  8,  1879,  and  missing  the  incoming 
Vega  among  the  fogs  of  Bering  Sea,  passed  through  into  the  Siberian  ocean, 
bound  poleward.  The  last  report  of  her  was  that  she  had  been  seen  Sep- 
tember 3d  steaming  toward  Wrangell  Land,  which  had  been  sighted  by 
American  whalers  in  1867,  and  was  generally  regarded  as  of  continental  extent 
northward.  It  is  now  known  that  De  Long  intended  to  reach  it  and  winter 
there ;  but  to  his  dismay  he  could  not  escape  from  the  ice-pack,  and  to  his 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH  95 

astonishment  found  himself  drifting  past  the  northern  margin  of  Wrangell 
Land,  thus  proving  it  an  island  about  seventy  miles  long. 

When  two  years  had  passed  and  no  tidings  had  been  received,  the  United 
States  government  equipped  a  search  expedition  in  the  steamer  Rodgers, 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  Berry,  which  in  1 88 1. reached  and  examined 
Wrangell  Land,  and  then  went  north  farther  even  than  Collinson,  reaching 
']^'^  44',  the  highest  point  yet  attained  immediately  north  of  Bering  Strait, 
where  the  paleocrystic  ice  spreads  much  farther  from  the  pole  than  on  the 
American  side.  But  he  found  no  trace  of  the  Jeannette,  and  himself  had  a 
hard  time  getting  home,  for  the  Rodgers  was  burned  in  her  winter  quarters. 

What  then  had  befallen  the  lost  vessel  ?  She  had  become  beset  in  the 
ice  and  drifted  with  the  pack  around  the  north  end  of  Wrangell  Island,  and 
then  west,  until  at  the  end  of  twenty-two  months  she  had  been  crushed,  and 
sunk  on  June  12,  1881,  in  latitude  ']']^  15'  N.,  and  longitude  155  E.  Two 
small  islands,  named  Jeannette  and  Henrietta,  had  been  visited  some  distance 
east  of  the  scene  of  the  catastrophe;  but  when  the  crews,  saving  themselves 
and  what  little  they  could  on  the  ice,  started  to  drag  their  boats  and  sledges 
homeward,  they  headed  directly  south,  and  soon  found  a  new  island,  named 
Bennett,  which  is  the  northernmost  of  the  New  Siberia  group. 

It  would  be  a  sad  task,  were  it  possible,  to  relate  here  the  frightful  hard- 
ships of  that  journey  through  the  fast-gathering  Arctic  night  toward  the 
bleak  coast  of  Siberia.  Having  passed  the  islands,  open  water  was  found, 
and  the  starving  men  embarked  in  their  three  boats  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Lena;  but  soon  they  were  separated  in  a  storm,  and  each  one  proceeded  as 
best  he  could.  One  boat  foundered  in  the  first  gale.  Another,  in  charge 
of  Melville  (now  engineer-in-chief,  U.  S.  N.),  reached  an  eastern  mouth 
of  the  river  and  ascended  it  to  a  Russian  village.  A  third  boat,  with  De 
Long  and  others,  also  reached  the  Lena  delta,  but  only  two  seamen  were 
able  to  proceed  afoot  to  Bulun,  a  far-away  Russian  settlement.  Melville 
heard  of  this,  and  made  haste  to  start  out  searching  parties,  but  they  were 
too  late.  De  Long  and  his  crew  had  died  of  exhaustion,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  next  season  that  their  bodies  and  records  were  fully  recovered. 

Nevertheless,  as  we  are  assured  by  experts,  the  results  of  this  unfor- 
tunate expedition  were  important,  physically  and  geographically.  "They 
covered  some  50,000  square  miles  of  polar  ocean,  and  clearly  indicate  the 
conditions  of  an  equal  area  between  their  line  of  drift  and  the  Asiatic 
coast."  De  Long  believed  the  Siberian  ocean  to  be  a  shallow  sea,  dotted 
with  islands ;  and  his  conclusions  have  been  confirmed  by  the  admirable 
scientific  work  since  of  Toll,  Bunge,  and  other  Europeans  who  have  explored 
the  Liachoff  Islands  and  other  places  in  that  part  of  the  Arctic  realm. 


96  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

The  desire  for  scientific  study  of  the  polar  world  had  now  become  the 
motive  for  northern  research,  though  men  were  still  ambitious  to  reach  the 
pole ;  and  when  Sir  George  Nares  returned  from  the  great  British  expedi- 
tion of  1875,  to  tell  how  the  men  of  the  Alert  had  reached  a  wintering- 
point  beyond  Robeson  Channel,  on  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  in  lati- 
tude 82°  27'  N.,  and  that  Markham  and  a  sledge-party  had  gone  about  one 
degree  farther  (to  '^'^^  20'  26"  N.),  greater  pride  was  felt  in  this  fact,  per- 
haps, than  in  the  careful  observations  and  collections  that  the  ships  had 
made.  This  remained  the  advance  record  until  the  memorable  feat  of  Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood  of  the  American  Greely  expedition  eight  years  later. 

This  expedition  was  one  of  several  acting  in  concert,  according  to  a 
scheme  suggested  by  Weyprecht,  and  perfected  at  international  congresses 
of  interested  men  meeting  at  Hamburg  in  1879  and  at  St.  Petersburg  in 
1S82.  This  plan  was  for  the  establishment  by  various  governments  of  a 
ring  of  stations  as  far  within  the  Arctic  circle  as  practicable,  where  simul- 
taneous daily  observations  of  the  weather,  magnetic  conditions,  tides,  cur- 
rents, etc.,  might  be  made.  The  arrangement  was  begun  in  the  summer 
of  1883,  and  observing  stations  were  established  by  Austria  on  Jan  Mayen 
Island ;  by  Denmark  at  Godthaab,  Greenland ;  by  Germany  on  Cumberland 
Bay,  west  of  Davis  Straits ;  by  Great  Britain  at  Great  Slave  Lake,  Canada ; 
by  Holland  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei ;  by  Norway  at  Alten  Fjiord,  Nor- 
way;  by  Russia  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  and  on  Nova  Zembla;  by  Sweden 
on  Spitzbergen  ;  and  by  the  United  States  at  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  and, 
farthest  north  of  all.  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  Greenland.  Nothing  need  be  said 
about  most  of  these  stations  —  all  were  successful  except  the  Dutch;  but 
to  the  last-named  belongs  a  story  that  Americans  will  not  forget. 

The  command  of  the  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Station  was  assigned  to  Lieu- 
tenant A.  W.  Greely  —  not  a  naval  lieutenant,  but,  like  Schwatka,  a  cav- 
alry officer,  then  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Signal  Service,  to  which  (because 
it  then  supervised  the  Weather  Bureau)  the  government  had  intrusted  this 
matter.  A  steamer  easily  conveyed  Greely  and  his  party  to  Lady  Franklin 
Bay,  and  left  them  there  with  a  good  house  ready  to  be  set  up,  and  supplies 
of  all  sorts  for  two  years.  The  prescribed  series  of  observations  with  bar- 
ometers and  thermometers,  wind-gages,  tide-gages,  magnetic  instruments 
and  all  the  rest,  were  at  once  begun,  and  two  winters  passed  comfortably 
enough.  Dogs  and  Eskimo  drivers  had  been  obtained,  and  several  journeys 
were  made,  of  which  the  most  important  was  Lockwood's  advance  toward 
the  pole,  of  which  an  account  has  been  succinctly  supplied  by  General 
Greely  himself  in  his  admirable  "Handbook  of  Arctic  Discoveries." 

Lieutenant  J.  B.  Lockwood,  one  of  the  principal   assistants,  who  had 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


97 


already  displayed  great  skill  and  energy  in  sledging,  even  in  prolonged 
temperature  as  low  as  8i°  F.  below  freezing,  undertook  a  long  exploring 
trip  up  the  Greenland  coast,  to  or  beyond  Cape  Britannia.  A  large  party 
went  with  him  at  first,  but  gradually  men  were  sent  back,  after  establishing 
supply-depots.  "  The  journey  onward  was  marked  by  severe  storms, 
rough  ice,  broken  sledges,  snow-blindness,  minor  injuries,  and — worst  of  all 
for  loaded  sledges — soft,  deep  snow."     At  last,  some  distance  north  of  Cape 


SCENERY   OF   GRINNELL   LAISTD   AND   THE   ARCTIC   SEA. 


Bryant,  all  turned  back  except  Lockwood,  Sergeant  Brainard,  and  an  Es- 
kimo, Christiansen,  who,  with  twenty-five  days'  rations,  pushed  on.  In  five 
and  one  half  days  they  had  reached  Cape  Britannia — the  farthest  north  of 
the  Nares  expedition  —  82°  20'  N.  Halting  here  only  long  enough  to 
study  the  landscape  from  its  summit,  and  make  sure  of  the  remarkable  fact 
that  this  northern  end  of  Greenland  is  free  from  the  ice-cap,  whose  northern 
limit  is  about  lat.  82°  N.,  they  rounded  a  cape,  and  crossing  channel  after 
channel  filled  with  ice,  which  showed  that  all  this  district  is  an  archi- 
pelago, reached  on  May  loth  Mary  Murray  Island,  83°  19'  N.  '*  A  violent 
gale  delayed  them  sixty-three  hours,  the  cold  exhausting  them  physically 


98  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

and  the  delay  mentally.  If  weather  forbade  travel,  life  must  be  sustained ; 
but  they  tasted  insufficient  food  only  at  intervals  of  fifteen,  twenty-four,  and 
nineteen  hours  —  the  last  as  clearing  weather  made  progress  possible. 
Floes  so  high  that  the  sledge  was  lowered  by  dog-traces,  ice  so  broken  that 
the  ax  cleared  the  way,  and  widening  water-cracks  in  increasing  numbers 
impeded  progress.  But,  despite  all  obstacles,  they  reached.  May  13,  1882, 
Lockwood  Island,  83°  24'  N.,  42°,  45'  W.,  the  farthest  of  their  journey, 
and  the  highest  north  [by  land],  then  or  now." 

They  could  see  land  several  miles  northeast,  which  they  named  Cape 
Washington,  the  highest  known  land,  and  toward  the  north  could  overlook 
a  polar  sea  to  within  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  pole.  Even  here 
plants  were  numerous,  and  foxes,  hares,  lemmings,  and  ptarmigans  existed. 
The  three  heroic  travelers  returned  safely,  reaching  headquarters  on  June 
3d.  Another  expedition  by  Lockwood  and  his  two  companions  explored 
and  located  the  west  coast  of  mountainous  and  glacier-girt  Grinnell  Land, 
where  the  musk-ox  and   Eskimo  hunters  range  to  the  northern  border. 

The  summer  of  1883  brought  no  relief-ship,  and  the  plan  of  escape  must 
be  put  into  execution  at  once.  A  ship  had,  in  fact,  tried  to  reach  Greely  in 
1882,  but,  failing,  had  left  supplies  of  provisions  at  Cape  Sabine  and  else- 
where. In  1883  another  relief  expedition  sent  north  was  dreadfully  mis- 
managed, and  finally  the  ship  itself  was  lost,  and,  instead  of  leaving  supplies, 
took  away  all  that  had  been  stored  at  Cape  Sabine  —  the  precise  point 
where  they  were  to  be  needed. 

Leaving  Lady  Franklin  Bay  in  August  in  open  boats,  the  party  man- 
aged, after  desperate  exertions,  to  get  near  Cape  Sabine,  and  safely  landed 
on  Bedford  Pim  Island,  on  the  northwestern  shore  of  Smith  Sound,  October 
15,  1883.     Of  the  misery  that  followed,  let  Greely  himself  tell  us: 

Winter  had  begun,  the  polar  night  was  imminent,  clothing  in  rags,  fuel  wanting,  and  forty 
days'  rations  must  tide  over  250  days,  till  help  could  come.  The  main  party  put  up  a  hut  of 
rocks,  canvas,  boat-  and  snow-slabs,  while  selected  men  scoured  the  coasts  for  caches,  sought 
land-game,  and  watched  seal-holes,  until  utter  darkness  drove  all  to  the  hut.  Scientific  observa- 
tions were  unremittingly  made,  amusements  devised,  a  spring  campaign  planned,  and  the  return- 
ing sun  found  only  one  dead.  Efforts  to  cross  Smith  Sound  failed,  and  a  hunting  trip  to  the 
west  found  a  new  (Schley)  land,  but  no  game.  Finally  game  came  so  inadequately  that  food 
failed,  and  one  by  one  men  died  —  Jens  seal-hunting,  and  Rice  striving  to  bring  in  a  cache. 
Courage  and  solidarity  continued ;  and  if  Greely  gave  to  the  maimed  Ellison  double  food  while 
it  lasted,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  order  in  writing  the  execution  of  a  man  serving  under  an  assumed 
name  of  Henry,  who  repeatedly  stole  sealskin  thongs,  the  only  remaining  food.  Flowers^ 
plants,  seaweed,  and  lichens  eked  out  life  for  the  six,  till  June  22,  1884,  when  the  relief-ships, 
Thftis  and  Bear,  under  Captain  W.  S.  Schley  and  Commander  W.  H.  Emory,  rescued  them. 
Records,  instruments,  and  collections  were  saved  to  tell  the  story  of  an  expedition  that  failed  not 
in  aught  intrusted  to  it,  and  whose  members  perished  through  others. 


SECRETS  WON  FROM  THE  FROZEN  NORTH  99 

To  another  piece  of  brilliant  work,  that  of  Lieutenant  R.  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N., 
I  can  give  only  a  few  words,  because,  like  so  much  else  that  might  be 
said  of  Arctic  researches,  it  was  by  land  rather  than  by  sea.  By  extraor- 
dinary courage,  skill,  and  endurance,  he  twice  crossed  northern  Green- 
land, showed  that  it  is  an  island  having  a  northern  shore  free  from  inland 
ice  in  about  82°  north  latitude,  and  made  stronger  Greely's  conclusion  that 
the  lands  visited  and  seen  by  Lockwood,  north  of  Cape  Britannia,  are  de- 
tached islands.  Peary's  work  may  be  said  to  have  completed  the  map  of  the 
continental  boundary  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  but  he  is  still  busy  there. 

Of  Nansen,  on  the  contrary,  I  ought  to  say  as  much  as  I  can,  because 
his  extraordinary  voyage  in  the  Fram  was  perhaps  more  purely  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Arctic  Sea  than  any  other  ever  made.  Dr.  Fridtjoff  Nansen  was 
a  young  Norwegian  who  had  already  made  his  mark  in  Greenland,  where, 
soon  after  1880,  articles  began  to  be  found  that  had  belonged  to  the  Jean- 
nette,  and  apparently  must  have  drifted  thence  from  where  she  was  lost  off 
Siberia.  This  was  only  a  part  of  the  indications  that  convinced  Dr. 
Nansen  that  a  current  flowed  across  the  unknown  polar  space  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Alaska  to  the  northeast  coast  of  Greenland,  and  thence  be- 
came the  great  Arctic  current  that  we  recognize  south  of  Iceland.  He 
argued  that  if  a  vessel  could  find  this  current  north  of  eastern  Siberia,  she 
would  be  moved  with  it  until  she  emerged  into  the  Atlantic.  Incidentally 
she  might  drift  directly  over  the  pole. 

With  this  in  view,  he  raised  funds  to  build  and  equip  a  small  wooden 
vessel,  furnished  with  both  steam  and  sails,  which  was  so  shaped  by 
the  roundness  of  her  bottom,  and  so  amazingly  braced  and  strengthened 
within,  that  before  any  "nips"  of  the  ice  would  crush  her,  the  pressure 
would  lift  her  out  of  water  —  as,  in  fact,  happened  many  times  in  the  courSe 
of  her  wonderful  excursion.  Nansen  chose  twelve  companions,^  and  though 
some  of  them  were  educated  men  of  science,  others  skilful  sea-captains, 
and  others  common  sailors,  all  lived  and  worked  together  in  one  cabin  as 
brothers  —  the  happiest  and  healthiest  lot  of  men  that  ever  ventured  into 
the  hyperborean  kingdom  of  desolation. 

Leaving  Norway  in  July,  1893,  he  struggled  through  the  Kara  Sea,  and 
it  was  not  until  late  in  September,  1894,  that  he  found  himself  permanently 
frozen  into  the  great  polar  pack,  north  of  the  New  Siberian  Islands ;  but 
even  then  he  was  neither  so  far  north  nor  so  far  west  as  he  hoped  to  get, 
and  feared  that  he  was  south  of  his  supposed  current.  For  the  story  of  the 
strange  life  led  by  those  thirteen  men  on  that  drifting  ship,  safe,  abundantly 

1  The  success  of  this  most  hazardous  venture,  although  its  crew  numbered  thirteen,  is  equal  to  the  success  of 
Columbus's  first  voyage,  although  it  began  on  Friday  !   "  Luck  "  has  no  show  when  it  is  pitted  against  pluck. 


lOO  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

provisioned,  dry,  warm,  lighted  by  electricity  (power  for  the  dynamos  being 
gained  by  a  windmill),  I  can  only  refer  you  to  Dr.  Nansen's  book,  "  Farthest 
North,"  one  of  the  most  interesting  Arctic  volumes  ever  penned.  Turn- 
ing, zigzagging,  now  advancing  and  again  retreating  as  the  constantly 
moving  ice  swayed  here  and  there  under  the  pressure  of  wind  or  the  drag- 
ging of  currents,  they  nevertheless  made  a  gradual  progress  westward. 

By  March  they  had  reached  a  point  near  the  crossing  of  the  70th 
meridian  and  85th  parallel,  and  were  still  fixed  in  the  ice.  Then  Nansen, 
taking  with  him  Lieutenant  Johansen,  started  north  by  dog-sledges,  in  an 
attempt  to  reach  the  pole.  They  could  take  very  few  supplies  of  any  sort, 
and  how  far  north  they  would  be  able  to  travel  must  depend  upon  their 
ability  to  return,  not  to  the  Fram,  which  would  drift  on,  but  to  the  islands 
of  Francis  Joseph  Land,  far  away  south.  The  ice,  bad  at  first,  grew  worse 
as  they  proceeded,  being  one  long  stretch  of  hummocks  and  jagged  ditches, 
with  now  and  then  a  lane  of  open  water  around  which  they  would  toil  in 
misery  only  to  find  a  worse  one  ahead.  On  April  7th  it  became  certain 
that  they  must  turn  back.  This  was  "farthest  north,"  indeed — just  above 
the  86th  degree,  hardly  275  miles  from  the  North  Pole.  Then  it  was  a  race 
against  death  by  cold,  or  drowning,  or  starvation.  One  by  one  the  dogs 
were  killed  to  furnish  food  for  the  remainder.  At  last,  after  almost  superhu- 
man labors  and  thrilling  escapes  from  freezing  and  drowning  and  the  attacks 
of  famished  bears,  they  reached  Francis  Joseph  Land,  and  spent  a  winter 
in  a  hut  made  out  of  stones,  earth,  and  raw  walrus  hides.  The  next  spring 
they  plodded  on,  and  by  good  chance  found  the  camp  of  the  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  surveying  party  (which  a  few  days  later  would  have  gone  away 
in  its  steamer),  by  whom  Nansen  and  Johansen  were  carried  to  Norway 
in  August,  1896. 

A  week  later  the  Fram  came  in,  with  every  one  well  and  hearty,  having 
emerged  from  the  ice  just  northwest  of  Spitzbergen. 

Since  Nansen's  return  another  Scandinavian,  S.  A.  Andree,  with  two 
companions,  has  disappeared  into  this  same  desert  of  ice  and  silence,  in  a 
balloon  carrying  a  boat,  sledge,  tent,  and  various  supplies.  It  was  his  in- 
tention to  reach  the  pole  if  possible,  and  to  do  whatever  else  circumstances 
permitted.  Since  his  departure,  on  July  10,  1897,  from  Spitzbergen,  he  has 
not  been  heard  from,  except  by  a  pigeon-message  two  days  later. 

THE    SOUTH    POLE 

We  have  followed  up  to  date  the  history  of  adventurous  and  scientific 
exploration  of  the  hardly  yielding,  yet  steadily  narrowed,  circles  of  unknown 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


lOI 


A   PENGUIN-ROOST   ON   THE   BEACHES   OF  VICTORIA  LAND. 
Drawn  by  the  Antarctic  explorer  Borchgrevink. 


coasts  and  waters  about  the  North  Pole.  Let  us  now  see  what,  thus  far, 
has  been  done  to  wrest  from  the  ocean  and  ice  of  its  Antarctic  antipodes  the 
secrets  of  the  South  Pole. 

Almost  three  hundred  years  ago  the  existence  of  islands  far  to  the  south- 
ward of  any  continents  became  known  to  navigators,  who  were  driven 
thither  by  bad  weather,  and  little  by  little  was  added  to  the  map  of  this 
desolate  region;  but  it  was  not  until  1772  that  any  one  went  into  that 
terrible  Antarctic  sea  for  the  express  purpose  of  a  survey.  This  man  was 
the  intrepid  Captain  Cook,  and  though  he  sailed  a  third  of  the  way  around 
the  globe  in  his  efforts  to  find  an  entrance  through  the  icy  barrier,  he  could 
never  penetrate  beyond  71°  south  latitude,  which  is  equal  to  North  Cape, 
or  the  town  of  Upernavik,  in  the  Arctic  region.  Later  captains  did  little 
better,  until  1841,  when  Sir  James  Ross,  in  his  ships  Erebus  and  Terror, — 
the  same  vessels  which  afterward  met  their  destruction  with  the  ill-fated 
Franklin  expedition, —  skirted  the  edge  of  the  thick  ice  that  everywhere 
clothed  the  land,  though  it  was  midsummer,  and  finally  reached  the  base  of 
the  southernmost  land  yet  known  on  the  globe  —  a  magnificent  mountain- 
chain  stretching  away  to  the  south  from  latitude  78°  10'. 

The  most  conspicuous  point  of  all  this  range  of  polar  mountains,  which 

7* 


I02  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

rises  from  an  unexplored  continent  or  great  island  called  Victoria  Land, 
is  the  volcano  Mt.  Erebus.  It  was  in  eruption  at  the  time  of  Ross's  visit, 
and  the  explorer  tries  to  tell  us  of  the  splendor  of  its  display  when  the  wide 
glistening  waste  of  snow  and  the  deep  blue  of  the  ocean  and  the  starry  sky 
are  lit  up  by  the  column  of  fire  hurled  thousands  of  feet  heavenward  from 
its  crater  :  but  who  can  picture  the  grandeur  of  such  a  scene  !  This  volcano 
is  about  12,400  feet  high,  and  an  extinct  neighbor,  Mt.  Terror,  is  still  higher; 
while  a  third  peak,  Mt.  Melbourne,  exceeds  15,000  feet  in  altitude,  and 
like  all  the  rest  is  covered  with  everlasting  snow  and  glaciers  from  the 
tempestuous  water's  edge  to  its  lonely  crest. 

Meager  as  this  information  is,  it  is  about  all  we  know  of  the  surface  of 
the  globe  within  the  Antarctic  circle ;  and  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  to 
learn  much  more.  In  a  latitude  much  farther  from  the  pole  than  that  where 
in  the  north  vegetation  is  abundant,  and  men  and  animals  live  all  the  year 
round,  the  severity  of  the  Antarctic  climate  cuts  off  all  life,  and  constantly 
seals  the  water  under  a  cap  of  ice.  The  coasts  and  outlying  islands  thus 
far  examined  appear  to  be  wholly  volcanic,  often  composed  of  nothing  but 
alternate  layers  of  ashes  and  ice ;  but  the  Challenger  staff  dredged  up  from 
the  edge  of  the  ice  south  of  the  middle  of  the  Indian  Ocean  pieces  of  gran- 
ite-like and  other  rocks,  such  as  belong  to  land  regularly  formed;  so  that 
probably  the  whole  uplift  does  not  consist  of  volcanic  materials  ;  and,  further- 
more, rocks  containing  fossil  plants  have  been  found  on  some  of  the  south- 
ernmost islands  which  show  that  in  past  ages  —  the  period  of  the  coal 
deposits  —  the  climate  of  that  end  of  the  world  was  mild  enough  to  support 
forests  of  trees  and,  doubtless,  a  large  variety  of  herbage  and  animals. 
Now  most  of  the  coast  is  unapproachable  on  account  of  a  border  of  sea-ice, 
or  else  cliffs  of  moving  land-ice  (glaciers)  that  give  off  the  flat,  table-topped 
icebergs  characteristic  of  -the  south  polar  waters.  No  trace  of  any  land 
animal  —  except  visiting  sea-fowl  —  has  been  found,  and  only  a  little  of  the 
simplest  plants  (lichens)  ;  nor  is  this  surprising  when  we  learn  that  the  high- 
est noonday  heat  of  summer  is  only  a  little  above  the  freezing-point. 

Why  this  intense  cold  and  dreadful  desolation  exists  so  much  farther 
from  the  pole  in  the  southern  than  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  I  need 
hardly  explain  to  you ;  for  you  will  recall  that  in  the  north  the  continents 
are  so  broad  as  to  form  almost  an  unbroken  wall  about  the  narrow  polar 
sea,  confining  its  cold  waters,  warming  the  air  by  wide  radiation,  and  guid- 
ing the  heated  flood  of  the  Gulf  Stream  straight  into  the  northern  sea.  In 
the  southern  hemisphere,  on  the  other  hand,  an  immense  breadth  of  ocean 
south  of  latitude  40°  is  broken  by  no  land  of  any  account,  and  the  south- 
ward  flowing  warm  water  from  the  equator  becomes  spread  out  so  thin 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


103 


upon  the  vast  surface  that  it  is  rapidly  chilled.  It  is  now  generally 
believed,  as  has  been  hinted,  that  the  south  polar  region  is  a  continental 
mass,  deeply  buried  in  an  ice-sheet  that  is  ever  fed  in  the  center  as  fast  as 
it  wastes  away  at  the  circumference ;  for  the  prevailing  winds  there  tend 
toward  the  pole  from  all  sides,  and  carry  loads  of  moisture  to  be  condensed 
and  fall  in  ceaseless  snows. 

The  Antarctic  seas,  however,  are  by  no  means  lifeless,  but  abound  not 
only  in  fishes, —  cod  are  said  to  throng  in  these  waters  in  prodigious  num- 


ICE-CLIFFS   AND   TABLE-TOPPED   BERGS,   CHARACTERISTIC   OF 
THE   ANTARCTIC   REGION. 


bers, —  but  several  varieties  of  whales,  dolphins,  and  their  kin  (which  will 
be  described  in  one  of  the  later  chapters),  and  many  kinds  of  seals,  notably 
the  huge  sea-elephant,  now  becoming  rare  elsewhere.  Then,  too,  the  Ant- 
arctic islands  and  headlands  are  the  resort  of  enormous  flocks  of  certain 
sea-birds,  all  different  from  the  Arctic  species  of  their  families,  which  subsist 
upon  the  fishes  and  less  creatures  in  the  water,  and  go  to  the  lonely  shores 
outside  the  ice-cap  only  for  rest  and  to  make  their  nests.  Of  all  these  the 
penguins  are  most  numerous  and  most  hardy,  and  a  whole  chapter  might 
easily  be    given    to  their  quaint  appearance   and   quainter  ways.      It   also 


I04  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

appears  probable  that  certain  migratory  birds  —  especially  beach-feeding 
kinds  —  regularly  visit  the  Antarctic  continent  in  summer  from  Patagonia, 
and  breed  there. 

Now  what  has  been  gained  by  all  the  expense,  exertion,  and  hardship 
of  polar  exploration  ?  What  has  been  the  charm  that  has  led  wise  and 
brave  men  to  overcome  terrific  obstacles,  and  turn  again  with  deeper  and 
deeper  longings  toward  the  mystic  icy  regions  ?  Lieutenant  Maury  has  given 
one  answer:  "There  icebergs  are  framed  and  glaciers  launched.  There  the 
tides  have  their  cradle :  the  whales  their  nursery.  There  the  winds  com- 
plete their  circuits,  and  the  currents  of  the  sea  their  round  in  the  wonderful 
system  of  interoceanic  circulation.  There  the  Aurora  Borealis  is  lighted 
up,  and  the  trembling  needle  brought  to  rest ;  and  there,  too,  in  the  mazes 
of  that  mystic  circle,  terrestrial  forces  of  occult  power  and  vast  influence 
upon  the  well-being  of  man  are  continually  at  play.  .  .  .  Noble  daring 
has  made  Arctic  ice  and  waters  classic  ground.  It  is  no  feverish  excite- 
ment nor  vain  ambition  that  leads  man  there.  It  is  a  higher  feeling,  a  holier 
motive,  a  desire  to  look  into  the  works  of  creation,  to  comprehend  the  econ- 
omy of  our  planet,  and  to  grow  wiser  and  better  by  the  knowledge." 

To  polar  explorers  we  owe  not  only  the  discovery  of  the  waters,  coasts, 
and  archipelagoes  that  now  are  accurately  outlined  upon  our  maps  within 
the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  circles,  but  vast  and  valuable  products  —  whale-fish- 
eries, seal-fisheries,  cod-fisheries,  and  many  other  additions  to  the  wealth 
of  the  world  from  the  sea,  while  the  Arctic  lands  have  yielded  furs  and  other 
valuable  things  in  great  quantity.  The  study  of  the  people  living  under 
those  adverse  northern  conditions  has  been  highly  instructive,  assisting  us 
to  reconstruct  the  life  in  the  primitive  world ;  and  what  we  have  learned 
from  the  records  of  the  Arctic  rocks  has  thrown  a  bright  and  unexpected 
light  upon  the  antiquity  of  the  globe. 

To  studies  of  the  ocean  and  atmosphere  in  very  high  latitudes  science  is 
largely  indebted  for  new  facts  in  magnetism,  in  the  movements  of  the  air  and 
causes  of  climate,  in  the  formation  and  behavior  of  ice  and  icebergs,  in  the 
action  of  tides  and  ocean-currents,  and  in  many  other  departments  of  know- 
ledge, all  of  which  have  been  made  of  use  especially  to  the  navigator.  Nor 
has  this  cost  over  much.  Attention  has  been  called  to  every  casualty,  and 
the  romantic  light  of  adventure  has  brought  into  high  relief  all  the  hard- 
ships and  sometimes  horrors  of  Arctic  experience  ;  but  the  records  show  that 
the  average  of  loss  and  suffering  in  Arctic  work  is  not  greater  than  that  of 
ordinary  seafaring  and  naval  careers.  Sir  Leopold  M'Clintock  has  stated 
publicly  that  during  the  thirty- six  years  when  Great  Britain  was  most  active 


SECRETS    WON    FROM    THE    FROZEN    NORTH 


105 


in  polar  research,  she  lost  only  one  expedition  and  128  persons  out  of  forty- 
two  successive  expeditions  sent  out,  and  never  lost  a  sledge-party  out  of  a 
hundred  that  made  overland  journeys. 

After  all,  no  doubt,  the  best  result  has  been  the  human  heroism  dis- 
played, and  the  human  sympathy  developed.  "There  are,"  exclaims  Pro- 
fessor Nourse,  "  and  ever  will  be,  fair  fruits  born  out  of  such  acts  of  high 
aspiration,  energy,  and  fortitude,  in  those  who  have  gone  out,  and  in  their 
liberal  supporters ;  exemplars  for  the  lifting  up  of  the  discouraged,  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young.  Certainly  volunteers  for  the  paths  of  discovery  will 
offer  themselves  until  the  fullest  additions  to  the  domain  of  science  have 
had  their  ingathering." 


liAGJLR  TO   BE   FIRST  ASHORE   IN    A   NIiW    LA.ND. 


IHK   ••CONSrnUTION'S"   LAST   FIGHT. 


ENGRAVED   BY  M.   HAIDER. 


CHAPTER  VI 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


PART    I WOODEN    WALLS,    FROM    SALAMIS    TO    TRAFALGAR 

AVAL  warfare,  properly  speaking,  begins  with  the  battle  of 
Salamis,  480  b.  c,  when  the  Greek  fleet,  under  the  guidance 
of  Themistocles,  destroyed  or  put  to  flight  a  horde  of  twelve 
hundred  Persian  vessels,  and  saved  Athens,  to  become  the 
foundation  of  a  strong  nation. 
Of  these  ships  at  Salamis  we  know  very  little,  except  that  they  were 
large,  open,  or  partly  open,  rowboats.  having  platforms  at  the  stern  and 
prow,  and  perhaps  amidships  in  some  cases,  where  soldiers  might  stand 
and  discharge  their  arrows  out  of  the  way  of  the  rowers  beneath  them,  or 
leap  aboard  the  enemy's  boats  whenever  they  could  be  reached.  They  were, 
in  short,  early  types  of  the  galleys  which  subsequently  became  vessels  of  war 
as  powerful  and  serviceable,  under  the  conditions  they  were  intended  to 
meet,  as  are  our  battle-ships  to-day,  and  probably  safer  as  a  fighting-place  for 
their  crews. 

That  from  rowboats  rather  than  from  sail-boats  should  have  been  devel- 
oped the  highest  type  of  Mediterranean  war-vessel  of  ancient  times  is  not 
surprising  when  one  remembers  the  light  and  variable  winds  of  that  region, 
the  usually  smooth  seas,  the  abundance  of  harbors,  and,  above  all,  the  need 
of  having  the  vessels  under  complete  control  when  all  fighting  had  to  be  done 
at  short  range  —  chiefly  by  ramming  and  boarding,  in  fact.  It  must  be 
remembered,  too,  that  labor  was  cheap  ;  and  it  was  considered  that  the  most 
proper  and  economical  —  not  to  say  humane  —  use  to  which  prisoners  of  war 
could  be  put  was  to  make  them  rowers  in  public  ships,  while  enough  remained 
to  be  sold  as  slaves  to  the  owners  of  private  yachts  and  privateering  galleys. 
One  may  imagine  a  worse  fate  than  this. 

The  earliest  war-vessels  of  the  eastern  Mediterranean  — those  of  Homer's 


I08  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

time,  for  instance  —  seem  to  have  been  long  and  rather  narrow  rowboats, 
the  best  pf  which  had  two  tiers  of  oars,  one  above  the  other,  the  lower, 
shorter  tier  working  through  oval  holes  in  the  side,  and  the  upper  in  notches 
or  thole-pins  on  the  gunwale.  This  left  the  upper  rowers  exposed,  and 
hence  such  vessels  were  called  aphract,  or  "  unfenced  "  ;  and  it  was  not  until 
the  Greeks  began  to  become  prominent  that  the  bulwarks  were  raised  high 
enough  to  protect  all  the  rowers,  and  war-vessels  generally  became  cata- 
pJiract,  or  "  fenced." 

It  appears  that  in  very  early  times  war-ships  (biremes)  with  not  only  two 
tiers  or  banks  of  oars,  but  even  those  {triremes)  with  three  banks,  were 
used ;  and  the  trireme  became  the  type  of  the  most  numerous  and  effective 
vessels  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  navies  in  their  prime.  And  as  weight 
and  power  gradually  increased,  the  crushing  power  of  collision  began  to  be 
utilized,  and  ramming  came  in  as  a  more  and  more  important  feature  in  naval 
tactics.  As  the  Greeks  seem  to  have  first  applied  these  new  ideas,  it  is  quite 
likely  that  their  success  at  Salamis  was  due  to  these  improvements.  The 
arrangement  was  this : 

From  the  side  of  the  vessel  (inside)  projected  three  rows  of  benches,  a 
yard  apart,  horizontally  supported  at  their  inner  ends  by  timbers  that 
slanted  toward  the  stern  at  such  an  angle  that  the  top  seat  of  each  row  was 
exactly  above  the  bottom  seat  of  the  row  behind  it.  The  oars  of  the  top 
tier  {thranite)  were  about  fourteen  feet  long,  those  of  the  middle  tier  {zy- 
giic)  about  ten  and  one  half  feet,  and  the  lowermost  one  {ihalamite)  seven 
and  one  half  feet.  Each  oar  was  so  nearly  balanced  in  its  oar-port  as  to 
work  in  the  easiest  manner,  tied  there  by  a  thong  and  surrounded  by  a  loose 
sleeve  of  leather  which  kept  out  the  water.  Each  one  of  the  lowermost  oars 
was  worked  by  a  single  man,  the  middle  ones  by  two,  and  those  of  the  third 
tier  by  three  or  four,  as  they  were  of  great  length. 

In  later  times  larger  vessels  were  invented  for  special  purposes  —  four- 
banked  {gnadrireines),  five-banked  {guinqtiiremes),  and  so  on,  even  up  to 
one  of  forty  banks ;  but  as  we  are  unable  to  understand  how  it  was  possible 
for  more  than  five  or  six  tiers  of  oars  to  be  operated,  we  may  leave  these 
extraordinary  galleys  to  special  students.^ 

i  he  structure  of  these  vessels  gave  them  the  greatest  strength  com- 
bined with  lightness.  They  had  very  strong  keels  and  stems,  the  latter 
peculiarly  braced  ;  and  along  their  sides  ran  waling-pieces,  or  fore-and-aft 
bracing  timl^ers,  the  lowermost  curving  inward  forward,  until  they  met  in 
front  of  the  stem  at  the  water-line,  where  they  were  braced  by  massive  tim- 

1   An  example  of  the  so-called  forty-bank  galley  is  il-     ture  of  the  ship  of  Ptolemy  Philopator,  on  page  43.     The 
lustrated.  ^o  far  as  its  forward  end  will  show  it,  in  the  pic-     forty  "banks"  appear  to  be  groups  of  oars  in  a  few  tiers. 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL   BATTLES 


109 


bers,  and  prolonged  into  a  sharp  three-toothed  spur,  of  which  the  middle 
tooth  was  the  longest,  reaching  out  perhaps  ten  feet.  This  was  covered 
with  metal,  usually  bronze,  and  formed  the  beak. 

''Above  it,  but  projecting  less  beyond  the  stem-post,  was  the  proembo- 
lion,  or  second  beak,  in  which  the  prolongation  of  the  upper  set  of  waling- 
pieces  met.  This  was  generally  fashioned  into  the  figure  of  a  ram's  head, 
also  covered  with 
metal.  .  .  .  These 
bosses,  when  a  ves- 
sel was  rammed, 
completed  the  work 
of  destruction  begun 
by  the  sharp  beak  at 
the  water-level,  giv- 
ing a  racking  blow 
which  caused  it  to 
heel  over  and  so 
eased  it  off  the  beak, 
releasing  the  latter 
before  the  weight  of 
the  sinking  vessel 
could  come  upon  it." 

The  stem  was 
often  carried  up  into 
a  curving  ornament 
called    the     acrosto- 

lion,  beneath  which  was  a  stout-walled  deck-space  for  sailors  or  the  fight- 
ing-men to  do  their  work ;  and  the  stern-post  similarly  supported  a  lofty, 
richly  ornamented  structure  {aplustron),  arching  over  the  officers'  quarters. 

Platforms  extended  up  and  down  the  center  of  the  ship  between  the 
rowers  ;  and  over  their  heads  was  a  deck  having  walls  or  bulwarks  where 
the  fighting-men  and  their  various  "engines"  stood.  In  addition  to  this 
an  external  defended  gallery  for  soldiers  and  boarders  usually  ran  along  the 
outside  of  the  bulwarks  above  the  oars ;  and  awnings  of  rawhide  were 
stretched  over  all  to  ward  off  grappling-irons. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  these  galleys  also  had  three 
pole-masts,  and  certain  sails  —  probably  a  huge  split  lug,  with  possibly  a 
square  topsail  on  the  mainmast,  while  the  fore-  and  mizzenmasts  carried 
lateens.  At  the  top  of  each  stick  was  a  round,  protected  cage  filled  with 
archers  and  slingers  —  the  prototype  of  our  "military  mast." 


HAMILCAR'S   "STAIRWAY   OF   THE   GALLEYS,"   AT   CARTHAGE. 


no  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

Nor  are  the  size  and  force  of  these  Greek  and  Roman  men-of-war  to  be 
despised.  The  ordinary  trireme  had  a  crew  of  200  to  225  men  in  all,  174 
of  whom  were  rowers.  The  space  for  cabins  and  stowage  must  have  been 
little,  but  this  was  of  small  account,  since  the  war-galleys  rarely  undertook 
long  cruises,  their  tactics  being  a  rush  and  a  sharp  fight,  and  then  a  quick 
return  to  harbor,  where  it  was  the  practice  to  draw  the  lighter  galleys  up  on 
shore  each  night.  The  transportation  of  the  ships  across  the  isthmus  of 
Corinth  was  not,  then,  so  astonishing  a  feat  as  it  is  sometimes  called. 

Rome's  experience,  however,  gained  in  war  and  in  suppressing  the  Le- 
vantine pirates,  taught  her  to  abandon  the  heavy,  many-banked,  unwieldy 
vessels  she  had  at  first  developed  from  Greek  and  Carthaginian  models, 
and  to  trust  to  a  much  lighter,  swifter,  and  more  manageable  style,  with  far 
less  upper  structure  and  rigging,  and  having  only  two  banks  of  oars.  These 
were  called  Liburnian  galleys.  With  this  change  came  naturally  one  of 
tactics,  capture  by  chase  and  boarding  taking  the  place  of  the  earlier  at- 
tempt to  crush  by  ramming  and  overriding  the  antagonist. 

The  armament  comprised  not  only  as  many  soldiers  with  bows  and  jav- 
elins as  could  find  room  in  action,  but  various  machines  of  offense  and 
defense,  such  as  catapults  hurling  huge  stones  or  marble  grape-shot,  spear- 
headed rams  or  huge  knives  that  could  be  run  out  against  an  enemy's  hull 
or  rigging,  arrangements  for  smashing  the  enemy's  decks,  caldrons  swung 
at  yard-arms,  holding  burning  pitch  or  oil  to  be  poured  upon  the  foe,  and 
often  cranes  {corvi^,  provided  with  grapples  that,  if  one  could  be  made 
fast,  would  lift  an  adversary  out  of  water,  and  turn  him  upside  down. 
Xo  more  vivid  picture  of  the  life  in  cruise  and  battle  of  a  Roman  man- 
of-war's  man  is  known  to  me  than  that  penned  by  General  Lew  Wallace 
in  "  Ben  Hur,"  but  I  cannot,  of  course,  transfer  all  of  it  to  my  pages,  as  I 
should  like  to  do,  and  an  extract  here  and  there  would  only  spoil  the 
pleasure  in  store  for  you  in  re-reading  it  all. 

Of  medieval  naval  warfare  in  the  Mediterranean,  the  struggles  between 
the  weak  "principalities  and  powers"  that  followed  the  decay  of  Rome  and 
lasted  for  a  dozen  centuries,  we  know  very  little.  There  is  more  obscurity 
here  than  even  elsewhere  in  the  dim  history  of  the  dark  ages.  It  is  evident, 
however,  that  not  much  change  took  place  in  naval  architecture.  The 
Byzantine  empire  succeeded  to  Rome  as  mistress  of  the  seas,  and  we  know 
that  in  the  ninth  century  the  Byzantine  emperors  were  still  building  biremes 
(then  called  dromones)  armed  with  tubes  for  spouting  Greek  fire.  It  should 
be  noted  that  boats  having  only  a  single  bank  of  oars  came  now  to  be  called 
galleys ;  and  this  is  the  first  and  proper  use  of  the  word,  though  popularly 
it  is  now  (or  until  recently  was)  applied  to  any  large  many-oared  boat. 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


II  I 


With  the  introduction  of  gunpowder  and  cannon  into  naval  vessels,  the 
ornamental  top-works  —  a  picturesque  relic  of  which  remains  in  the  Venetian 
gondola  of  to-day  —  disappeared,  as  we  see  when  the  clear  light  of  history 
begins  to  shine  on  the  fleets  of  Venice  and  Genoa,  when  these  cities  were 
leaders  of  the  world  in  navigation.  Turkey  —  the  successor  of  the  old  By- 
zantine empire  and  of  the  Greek  power  —  was  then,  as  now,  the  great  enemy 
of  the  west,  but  in  those  days  it  was  aggressive.  Its  fleets  were  strong  and 
well  manned,  and  they  threatened  to  cross  the  Adriatic  and  fasten  the  baneful 


A   COMBAT   OF   ROMAN    GALLEYS   (BIREMES). 


grasp  of  the  Moslem  upon  Italy  in  revenge  for  the  persecution  of  the  Moors 
in  Spain.  Perhaps  they  would  have  done  so  had  not  John  of  Austria,  admiral 
of  the  allied  navies  of  Spain,  Venice,  and  Rome,  won  that  great  victory  in  the 
harbor  of  Lepanto,  near  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,  which  destroyed  nearly  the 
whole  Turkish  fleet,  and  released  fifteen  thousand  Christian  galley-slaves. 
This  was  in  October,  1571,  and  it  saved  the  West  from  being  overrun  by  the 
barbarous  East,  as  exactly  fifteen  and  a  half  centuries  before  it  had  been 
saved  near  Actium,  a  famous  promontory  on  the  northwestern  coast  of 
Greece,  where  Octavius  defeated  the  forces  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra. 

It   is   doubtful  whether  the   ships  that  fought  in  the  later  battle  were 
much  different  in  either  build  or  rig  from  those  of  the  earlier  conflict,  but 


I  12 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


their  decks  no  more  gleamed  with  men  in  armor,  and  in  place  of  catapult, 
crane,  and  caldron  were  cannonades  and  falconets,  arquebuses  and  hand-gre- 
nades. Perhaps,  however,  they  had  already  taken  on  more  of  that  long,  low 
shape  characterizing  later  the  French  and  Italian  galleys,  common  enough 
in  Mediterranean  ports  up  to  about  one  hundred  years  ago,  which  differed 
mainly  from  the  ancient  ones  in  their  use  of  much  longer  oars  or  sweeps, 
balanced  upon  a  sort  of  extended  outrigger  or  shelf  projecting  from  the 
vessel's  side.  The  galleass  of  which  we  hear  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  was  a  large  war-ship  of  this  style,  which  foreshadowed  the  Atlantic 
ships,  to  be  spoken  of  presently,  in  having  castellated  structures  fore  and 
aft,  in  which  were  mounted  sometimes  twenty  guns ;  besides  its  two  or 
three  lateen-rigged  masts,  it  often  had  thirty-two  sweeps  on  each  side, 
each  about  forty-five  feet  long,  and  handled  with  a  long,  slow  stroke  by 
five  or  six  men  —  in  France  mainly  convicts  "condemned  to  the  galleys."^ 
Such  vessels  continued  to  be  used  by  the  Spaniards,  Maltese,  Italians, 
and  Turks  long  after  they  had  been  abandoned  by  the  French  navy,  but 
latterly,  after  the  suppression  of  piracy,  in  which  they  were  of  especial 
service,  for  the  conveyance  of  important  personages  and  occasions  of  cere- 
mony rather  than  for  practical  service ;  and  in  the  state  barge  of  the  Doge 
of  \  enice,  brought  out  annually  to  this  day  at  the  ceremony  of  re-wedding 

Venice  to  the  Adriatic,  we  have  a  mag- 
nificent relic  of  these  stately  craft. 

But  such  boats  were  adapted  only 
to  the  comparatively  calm  and  simple 
navigation  of  the  Mediterranean  ;   and 
although  imitated  in  the  similar  waters 
of  the  eastern  Baltic,  they  never  flour- 
ished north  of  Spain.     When  they  grad- 
ually disappeared,  their  successor  inside 
the  gates  of  Gibraltar  was  the  xebec, 
which    began   to   appear    under    Arab 
or  Spanish  control  in  the  seventeenth 
century  ;  this  was  supposed  to  be  able 
to  withstand  any  weather,  and  carried 
from    fourteen    to    twenty-two    guns    on    deck,    with    small   ports   for   oars 
between  the  guns.      A  picturesque  relative  was  the  Portuguese  muleta. 
The   English  liked  this  kind  of  vessel  on  account  of  its  strong  sailing 


TYPE  OF  VENETIAN  GALLEY. 


1  Tin  ee  other  terms  ofsimilar  sound  need  explanation,  used  by  Malay  pirates.  The  galleon  was  any  Spanish 
Tlie  galiot  was  a  small,  fast  galley  of  the  Levant.  The  ship  sailing  to  and  from  the  Spanish  main;  hence,  espe- 
gallivat  was  a  large,  swift,  two-masted,  armed  sail-boat     daily  a  treasure-ship. 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


113 


FORECASTLE    OF     THE    "GREAT 
HARRY"  ("GRACE   DE   DIEU"). 


qualities,  but  when  they  took  it  into  their  own  stormy  waters  they  found 
it  necessary  to  raise  its  sides  to  fit  them  for  breasting  the  high  seas  that  roll 
in  the  open  Atlantic  or  are  tossed  by  the  contending  tides  of  the  English 
Channel,  and  developed  out  of  it  a  style  of 
swift  and  handy  vessel  called  a  frigate. 

During  all  these  "  middle  "  ages  the  north- 
ern nations  had  been  sailing  and  fighting  on 
the  sea  as  well  as  the  southerners.  Stories 
of  sturdy  battles  have  come  down  in  tradition 
and  in  such  chronicles  as  those  of  Froissart; 
but  those  old  conflicts  seem  to  have  pro- 
duced little  change  in  ship-building  or  arma- 
ment until  the  experience  and  wisdom  brought 
back  by  the  Crusaders  began  to  spread  abroad 
even  in  the  half-savage  North,  and  to  produce 
that  revival  of  learning  which  by  and  by  was 
to  make  such  striking  changes  in  western 
Europe ;  and  here  the  leaders  are  Englishmen. 

In  those  days  no  national  navies,  properly  speaking,  existed  in  Eng- 
land, France,  or  northward.  When  a  monarch  wished  to  transport  troops 
by  water  to  some  other  land,  or  make  a  naval  expedition  or  campaign,  he 
fitted  out  the  ships  that  belonged  to  the  crown  as  the  king's  personal  prop- 
erty, and  compelled  his  subjects  to  furnish  the  rest,  just  as  his  feudal  prov- 
inces and  cities  and  lords  were  expected  to  equip  and  bring  to  his  standard 
any  land  forces  required.  It  was  to  systematize  this  method  somewhat  in 
England  that  William  the  Conqueror  ''  established  the  Cinque  Ports,  and 
gave  them  certain  privileges  on  condition  of  their  furnishing  52  ships, 
with  24  men  in  each,  for  15  days,  in  cases  of  emergency."  Now  and 
then,  at  first,  Englishmen  were  disposed  to  resist  the  "arrest"  of  ships, 
which  might  easily  mean  the  ruin  of  their  business  ;  and  special  laws  had  to 
be  made  to  quell  this  reluctance.  Another  quaint  and  significant  feature  of 
that  practice  was  this:  In  every  fleet  one  or  more  ships  were  set  apart  as 
"royal,"  and  either  the  king  or  his  representatives  occupied  them  with  court 
ceremony  to  carry  out  the  fiction  of  royal  dominion  over  the  sea  as  well  as 
upon  the  land.  It  naturally  followed  in  England  that  after  her  navy  had 
shown  its  power,  and  signalized  it  especially  by  a  brilliant  victory  over 
Spain  in  1380,  Edward  III  should  have  assumed  as  an  additional  title 
"King  of  the  Seas" — an  act  which  had  far-reaching  consequences. 

During  the  fifteenth  century  something  like  an  established  navy  was 
foreshadowed;  but  it  was  not  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  when,  at  the 


114  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  whole  world  was  exploring  the  oceans  and 
awakening  to  the  importance  of  sea  power,  that  the  first  vessel,  properly 
called  a  national  war-ship,  was  built,  equipped,  manned,  and  sustained  at 
government  expense  by  England.  This  was  the  Great  Harry  —  a  floating 
fortress  rather  than  a  ship;  for,  with  her  towering,  overweighted  "castles" 
fore  and  aft,  she  was  unseaworthy,  and  came  near  being  sunk  by  a  slight 
rolling  which  poured  the  water  into  her  lower  ports. 

But  a  better  known  "  Great  Harry  "  was  the  Henri  Grdce  de  Dieu,  built 
by  Henry  VIII.  This  king  was  the  real  founder  of  the  British  navy,  pro- 
viding for  it  many  good  ships,  dock-yards,  trained  officers,  and  regularly 
enlisted  crews.  The  advantage  of  this  organization  and  the  superiority 
of  English  seamanship  were  demonstrated  in  the  next  reign  by  the  defeat 
of  the  Spanish  Armada. 

England  was  then  at  war  with  Spain,  and  Philip  II  thought  to  end  the 
matter  by  means  of  the  greatest  expedition  ever  heard  of.  It  began  to  be 
prepared  in  1587  under  the  title  of  the  Most  Fortunate  Armada,^  but  an 
English  squadron  under  Drake  attacked  the  rendezvous  at  Cadiz,  destroyed 
over  one  hundred  vessels  and  huge  quantities  of  stores,  and  then  so  ravaged 
the  neighboring  coasts  as  to  delay  Spain's  project  for  a  whole  season. 

In  midsummer  of  1588,  however,  after  an  unlucky  start,  in  which  it  was 
driven  back  by  storms,  the  dreaded  Armada  appeared  in  the  English  Channel, 
like  a  close  flock  of  huge  birds  drifting  along  the  British  coast.  It  consisted 
of  about  130  ships,  seven  of  which  exceeded  1000  tons  burden,  and  numerous 
small  craft,  and  was  armed  with  nearly  3000  cannon.  Its  commander  was 
the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  who  was  a  most  incompetent  man  for  the  post, 
and  it  bore,  besides  nearly  10,000  sailors  and  galley-slaves,  over  10,000  sol- 
diers ;  but  this  naval  force  was  not  intended  to  attack  England  until  after  it 
had  ferried  over  from  Belgium  the  Spanish  army  of  the  Duke  of  Parma. 

To  such  a  force  as  this  England  opposed  a  miserably  small  fleet  —  only 
34  vessels  that  could  be  called  ships ;  but  she  hastily  armed  as  many  more 
smaller  ones  as  she  could,  amid  great  fright  and  excitement,  until  finally 
Admiral  Howard  commanded  80  or  90  ships  and  boats.  There  was  no 
deficiency  in  his  men,  however, —  the  pick  of  English  "sea-dogs"  was  at  his 
call;  and  among  the  leaders  of  the  pack  were  men  we  have  already  met 
elsewhere  —  Francis  Drake,  John  Hawkins,  Martin  Frobisher,  and  others. 

What  a  sight  it  must  have  been  on  that  August  day  as  these  ships,  flying 
the  huge  banners  of  Castile,  standing  high  out  of  the  water,  with  lofty 
"castles"  forward  and  aft,  gaudy  with  carving  and  color,  the  light  rippling 
here  from  silken  pennants  and  flashing  there  from  shining  cannon  or  huge 

1  It  was  known  later  as  the  Invincible  Armada. 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


115 


poop-lanterns,  moved  past  the  southern  headlands  of  England,  watched  by 
half-raging-,  half-fearful  crowds!  And  how  mystified  and  indignant  must 
these  watching  country  people  have  been  when  Admiral  Howard,  their  only 
defender,  calmly  let  the  Armada  sail  by  Plymouth,  where  the  English  fleet 
lay  hid  in  the  Solent,  and  Captain  Drake  coolly  insisted  upon  finishing  a 
game  of  bowls  before  he  would  go  down  to  his  waiting  frigate. 


STYLE   OF   SHIPS   IN   THE   TIME   OF   THE   ARMADA. 


But  these  captains  knew  what  they  were  about.  In  those  days,  as  now, 
in  fighting  with  sailing-vessels  the  advantage  is  usually  with  the  one  who 
attacks  from  the  windward  side ;  for  then  he  can  manoeuver  his  vessel, 
whereas  his  enemy,  heading  toward  the  wind,  can  do  so  only  with  difficulty 
if  at  all,  and  hence  cannot  easily  take  a  good  position  or  escape  from  a  bad 
one.  Howard,  therefore,  waited  until  the  closely  crowded  squadrons  of 
Spain  had  passed  beyond  him  up  the  Channel,  when  he  issued  from  Plym- 
outh harbor,  bore  down  upon  their  rear  from  the  windward,  and  pro- 
ceeded, as  one  of  the  reports  expressed  it,  to  "  pluck  their  feathers." 

Then  began  some  wonderful  days  of  sea  history  and  naval  schooling. 


Il6  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

The  Spanish  vessels  were  floating  castles  armed  with  heavy  guns  and 
crowded  with  soldiers  armed  with  muskets  and  "harquebuses  of  crock," — 
that  is,  great  blunderbusses  supported  upon  a  portable  rest.  They  kept  in  a 
close  crowd,  like  a  phalanx  of  old  Swiss  infantry,  and  supposed  that  the 
English  would  move  against  them  in  another  dense  raft,  and  that  they  would 
fight  from  deck  to  deck  of  grappled  ships  as  if  they  were  on  land. 

But  the  English  knew  better.  They  had  few  ships  as  large  —  the  Tri- 
umph, 1 1  GO  tons,  was  the  biggest — or  guns  as  heavy  as  the  Spaniards'. 
Instead  of  attacking  in  a  solid  mass,  therefore,  they  spread  out,  hovered  on 
the  flanks,  darted  a  ship  here  and  there,  fired  as  they  saw  opportunity,  and 
kept  their  own  vessels  out  of  danger  as  much  as  possible.  In  the  light  and 
variable  winds  that  prevailed,  the  great  galleons  of  the  Armada  were  almost 
immovable,  while  the  English  for  the  most  part  had  smaller,  lighter  vessels, 
whose  nimbleness  and  ready  obedience  to  the  helm  astonished  the  Spanish. 
Standing  low  in  the  water,  these  would  drive  their  shot  right  through  the 
enemy's  hulls,  and  make  off  before  the  Spaniard  could  depress  his  guns 
enough  to  do  any  damage  in  return;  while  the  army  of  musketeers  upon 
whom  he  had  relied  so  strongly  had  little  chance  to  do  anything  at  all. 

Thus  for  a  week  the  English  frigates  and  armed  fishing-boats  harassed 
the  Armada  on  its  way  up  the  Channel,  capturing  and  sinking  many  of  the 
ships,  while  losing  some  of  its  own,  of  course,  until  at  last  the  worried  and 
baffled  squadron  managed  to  gain  the  roadstead  of  Calais,  where  the  army 
of  the  Duke  of  Parma  lay.  To  carry  this  army  across  and  begin  a  cam- 
paign against  London  seemed  now  not  only  out  of  the  question,  but  the 
safety  of  the  fleet  itself  was  a  question  ;  for  a  few  days  later,  when  a  favor- 
able wind  arose,  several  fire-ships  came  sailing  down  upon  them  from  the 
blockading  Englishmen  outside.  These  fire-ships  —  an  important  part 
of  every  fleet  for  two  or  three  centuries  —  were  old  vessels  intended  to  set 
hre  to  an  enemy's  ships.  Their  yard-arms  were  set  with  great  iron  hooks, 
their  hulls  and  riggings  were  saturated  with  oil,  their  decks  loaded  with  tar- 
barrels,  and  their  old  guns  overloaded,  so  as  to  spread  destruction  in  every 
direction  by  bursting.  Then  bold  crews  sailed  these  grappling  monsters 
as  near  the  enemy  as  they  dared, —  and  it  must  have  been  a  service  dear  to 
the  heart  of  the  daring, —  set  fire  to  them,  lashed  their  helms,  and  got  away 
in  their  boats  as  best  they  could. 

To  escape  these  dreadful  things  the  Spaniards  were  obliged  to  up-an- 
chor and  put  to  sea,  losing  many  ships  and  lives  by  fire  or  the  wildly  flying 
cannon-balls,  or  by  going  ashore  in  the  effort;  and  then  the  Englishmen 
followed  them  again,  like  wolves  after  a  herd  of  buffalo  in  winter.  The 
Spaniards  dared  not  go  back  down  the  Channel,  and  nothing  remained  to 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


117 


them  but  the  hazardous  voyage  around  the  north  of  Scotland — a  venture 
for  which  the  towering,  unwieldy  galleons  were  ill-fitted.  Storms  over- 
took them  in  the  North  Sea  and   on  the  Atlantic,  and  so  many  were  cast 


A   SEA-FIGHT   OF  THE   SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY. 


away  on  the  Irish  coast,  where  those  who  reached  the  shore  were  slain, 
that  hardly  half  of  the  proud  Armada  crept  back  to  Lisbon  and  Cadiz. 
This  incident  was  one  of  the  most  notable  in  European  history  for  two 
reasons :  First,  historically,  it  no  doubt  saved  England  and  her  colonies 
from  the  Inquisition,  and  all  the  other  depressing  and  horrible  burdens  that 
long  afterward  weighted  the  papal  countries  of  southern  Europe  and  their 
American  possessions ;   and,  second,  it  reformed  naval  warfare  not  only  by 


Il8  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

confirming  the  value  of  a  regularly  organized  national  navy,  but  by  show- 
ing that  the  old-fashioned,  dense  fleet  formation,  carrying  soldiers  to  fight 
as  they  would  do  on  land,  was  wrong  and  ineffective. 

But  though  Spain  had  been  humbled  she  was  by  no  means  crushed,  and 
sea-fighting  went  on  a  long  time  before  either  she,  the  French,  or  the  Dutch 
—  and  the  last  were  the  hardest  foes  —  would  fully  admit  England's  claim 
to  be  sovereign  of  ail  the  seas  around  Britain,  and  strike  their  flags  when- 
ever they  met  one  of  her  "king's  ships"  in  acknowledgment  of  it.  Eng- 
land asserted  that  the  domain  of  her  crown  covered  not  only  the  lands  of 
England  (and  much  of  France),  but  also  "  the  narrow  seas " ;  and  she 
defined  this  domain  to  include  all  the  Channel  waters  north  of  Cape 
Finisterre  and  thence  in  a  square  area  westward  to  the  middle  of  the  At- 
lantic. This  was  not  an  assertion :  "  I  can  beat  the  world  in  sea-fight- 
ing," but  was  a  legal  claim  to  rule  —  a  declaration  that  her  laws  extended 
over  that  much  sea  in  the  same  manner  that  it  is  now  agreed  that  the 
laws  of  all  nations  extend  to  a  distance  of  three  miles  from  their  coasts. 

The  whole  idea  of  naval  warfare  in  those  days  was  defense  of  your 
own  commerce  and  attack  upon  your  enemy's ;  and  at  that  time  any  one 
you  met  under  another  flag  was  likely  to  be  your  "enemy"  if  either  party 
promised  spoils  worth  a  fight.  Hence  not  only  did  privateering  flourish, — 
often  degenerating  into  piracy, — not  only  did  all  merchant  vessels  go  heavily 
armed,  but  the  royal  ships  were  intended  principally  for  convoying  or 
guarding  merchantmen.  This  theory,  which  was  only  a  part  of  the  gen- 
erally unsettled  condition  of  that  formative  period,  kept  up  a  continual 
state  of  fighting  on  the  sea,  even  between  peoples  nominally  at  peace,  and 
of  course  led  again  and  again  to  open  wars.  These  were  almost  always 
popular,  especially  among  the  bold  sailors  but  poor  traders  of  England,. 
on  account  of  the  chances  for  prizes  and  plunder  that  often  more  than  re- 
paid the  expenses  and  losses  of  the  conflict ;  thus  the  war  with  the  Dutch 
in  1652-54,  in  which  William  Penn  was  a  captain,  brought  in  more  than 
^6,000,000  worth  of  captures  —  more  than  the  financial  cost  of  the  war. 

At  this  time  —  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century —  Holland  was  the 
leading  commercial  nation  of  the  world.  Not  only  had  her  merchants  large 
interests  of  their  own  in  both  the  East  and  West  Indies,  very  extensive 
fisheries  in  northern  waters,  and  trading  stations  in  the  African  and  American 
coasts,  but  a  large  part  of  the  commerce  of  other  nations  was  conducted  in 
Dutch  ships,  including  much  of  England  itself.  It  was  the  unrighteous  but 
determined  effort  to  break  this  up  by  any  and  every  means  that  brought  on 
the  second  war  with  Holland,  one  incident  of  which  was  the  capture  of  New 
Amsterdam  (New  York);  for  fleets  no  longer  stayed  close  at  home,  acting 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


119 


ATTACKING  SPANISH  GALLEONS  OFF   THE   AZORES. 


mainly  as  defenders  of  coasts,  as  in  the  previous  century,  but  now  cruised  and 
fought  on  the  high  seas,  as  the  Spanish  had  learned  in  many  a  hard  struggle 
to  protect  their  trading  and  treasure-ships  homeward  bound. 

This  new  practice,  however,  had  required  a  change  in  ships  and  their 
equipment.  The  English  learned  this  quicker  than  any  one  else.  They  cut 
down  the  lofty  cabins,  increased  the  height,  while  reducing  the  weight,  of 
masts  by  inventing  jointed  topmasts,  and  replaced  the  unwieldy  lateens  by 
an  arrangement  of  lofty,  quickly  handled  square  sails.  By  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century  ocean-going  ships  had  much  the  same  appearance 
as  at  present, —  although  far  more  elaborately  ornamented  and  bulging 
aft  with  stern-galleries, —  the  massive,  high-pooped  Spanish  galleon  sur- 
viving longest  as  a  relic  of  the  old  type.  These  changes  allowed  the  arma- 
ment to  be  taken  from  the  front  and  rear  of  the  ship,  where  it  had  formerly 
been  mainly  placed,  there  being  no  room  in  the  waist,  and  allowed  it  to  be 
distributed  equally  up  and  down  the  ship,  which  now  began  to  deliver  the 
"broadsides"  that  formed  such  a  feature  in  sea-gunnery  before  the  days  of 
turreted  ironclads,  and  this,  with  the  constant  improvement  in  the  range  and 
power  of  the  artillery,  soon  brought  about  ideas  of  battle  formation.  The 
early  plan  was  to  provide  a  large  number  of  ships, —  eighty  or  one  hundred 
on  each  side  in  a  single  action  were  not  uncommon, —  because  each  was 
weak,  and  also  because  a  great  number  of  fighting-men  was  thought  neces- 
sary, and  then  to    advance  from    the   windward    in  a  compact  mass,    and 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES  12  1 

endeavor  to  close  with  the  enemy  and  capture  or  destroy  him  by  hand- 
to-hand  promiscuous  fighting.  Our  word  squadron  means  a  square,  and,  as 
appHed  to  ships,  is  a  survival  from  those  antiquated  methods. 

But  when  the  practice  of  using  fire-ships  became  common  and  effective, 
and  trimmer,  more  active  ships  superseded  the  cumbrous  galleasses,  it  was 
seen  that  this  close  formation  only  exposed  a  fleet  to  destruction,  and  an 
open  order  had  to  be  adopted,  with  a  consequent  change  of  tactics.  Another 
lesson  was,  that  a  sea-fight  was  a  sailor's  battle,  where  soldiers  were  out  of 
place,  and  that  to  take  a  great  number  of  weak  ships  into  action,  crowded 
with  men,  was  only  to  risk  life  unnecessarily.  Hence,  larger  and  more 
heavily  armed  ships,  but  fewer  of  them,  appear  in  later  engagements ;  and 
in  place  of  a  bunch  of  vessels,  "huddled  together  like  a  flock  of  sheep,"  at 
which  to  shoot,  the  open  order  gave  the  gunners  small  and  single  targets. 

All  these  changes  combined  to  enforce  the  wisdom  of  meeting  an  enemy 
in  a  widely  spaced  line,  where  the  strongest  fighting-ships  were  put  forward, 
and  smaller  vessels  came  up  in  the  rear.  Those  ahead  met  the  battle-ships 
at  the  head  of  the  enemy's  column,  and  the  lesser  ones,  as  they  came  up, 
were  paired  off  against  those  of  their  own  size,  so  that  the  battle  became  a 
series  of  equalized  duels.  Such  was  the  theory  of  naval  tactics  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries ;  and  so  arose  the  term  line-of-battle 
ship,  descriptive  of  such  national  craft  as  are  shown  on  the  opposite  page. 

These  fine  old  line-of-battle  ships  were  large  and  powerful  before  the 
seventeenth  century  ended.  Thus  in  the  British  navy  when  1700  came 
in  there  were  eight  which  had  from  ninety-six  to  one  hundred  and  ten  guns 
each  —  fifty-three  others  carrying  more  than  seventy  guns,  and  twenty- 
three  more  with  more  than  fifty  guns  —  all  at  that  time  regarded  as  fit 
for  the  line  of  battle,  though  a  hundred  years  later  nothing  less  than  a 
"seventy-four  "  was  so  considered.  Such  were  the  grandly  picturesque  old 
vessels  that  won  the  day  at  Gibraltar,  Copenhagen,  and  Trafalgar,  and  at 
many  another  spot  where  the  whole  horizon  echoed  to  their  thunderous 
broadsides;  but  of  them  all  there  now  remain  only  a  few  honored  hulks  in 
harbors,  or  a  few  grand  figureheads  preserved  in  docks  and  museums. 

Each  navy,  however,  had  a  greater  number  of  smaller,  more  active 
vessels,  known  as  frigates,  corvettes,  sloops-of-war,  gun-brigs,  etc.,  which 
carried  from  twenty  to  forty-four  guns,  and  were  the  "eyes  of  the  fleet,"  as 
one  old  strategist  styled  them.  They  answered  to  what  we  should  now 
call  cruisers,  and  often  went  on  duty  in  distant  parts  of  the  world,  or  in 
war  were  scouting  about  and  supporting  the  main  fleet.  This  class  was 
especially  cultivated  by  the  United  States,  as  soon  as  it  began  to  make  a 
regular  navy,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  six  frigates  were 


122  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


built  at  our  six  navy-yards  during  the  last  years  of  the  last  century,  which 
were  intended  and  proved  to  be  separately  "superior  to  any  single  Euro- 
pean frigate  of  the  usual  dimensions  "  in  speed,  manoeuvering,  and  fighting 
power,  in  proportion  to  their  weight  of  ordnance.  Three  of  them  {Con- 
stellation, Congress,  and  Chesapeake^  mounted  thirty-six  guns,  and  three 
(^United  States,  President,  and  Constitution^  forty-four  guns  each  —  mainly 
24-pounders ;  and  all  gave  so  good  an  account  of  themselves,  as  ships,  that 
the  high  compliment  was  paid  us  of  their  being  carefully  imitated  by 
foreign  naval  constructors. 

This  is  not  a  naval  history,  so  that  I  am  not  concerned  to  tell  of  all  the 
glorious  or  inglorious  work  of  the  navies  of  Europe  in  obtaining  and  hold- 
ing, or  failing  to  get  and  keep,  trade  routes  open  and  territorial  possessions 
intact  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  During  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth and  far  into  the  nineteenth  century,  there  was  no  time  when  some 
nations  were  not  fighting  on  the  sea  if  not  on  land ;  and  much  of  the  time 
all  the  maritime  nations  were  hard  at  it,  turning  their  guns  to-day  on  the 
allies  of  yesterday,  and  fighting  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  them  the  next 
season  against  some  friend  of  the  year  before. 

A  few  of  the  most  famous  battles  ought  to  be  spoken  of,  however,  as 
illustrating  the  methods  and  development  of  naval  warfare,  and  because  we 
now  recognize  that  their  consequences  were  far-reaching. 

In  the  wars  which  broke  out  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
due  to  Napoleon's  ambition  to  rule  the  world.  Great  Britain  found  herself 
engaged  in  a  struggle  not  only  with  France,  but  really  with  the  whole 
world,  for  the  command  of  the  seas  that  washed  the  western  coast  of  Europe. 
The  only  sign  of  friendship  to  England  from  the  Baltic  to  Gibraltar  was  in 
the  doubtful  neutrality  of  Portugal.  England  had  to  abandon  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  devote  herself  to  facing  the  allied  powers  against  her  outside  the 
Gates  of  Hercules  as  best  she  could.  In  1797  she  made  a  beginning  by 
crushing  a  fleet  of  Dutch  ships  off  Camperdown  (Holland),  and  a  Spanish 
fleet  off"  Cape  St.  Vincent ;  but,  though  both  were  great  battles,  neither  had 
any  lasting  effect;  and  in  spite  of  them  Napoleon  planned  his  celebrated 
invasion  of  England  for  the  following  year,  supposing  that  by  his  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt,  threatening  England's  East  Indian  possessions,  he  would 
draw  away  so  much  of  the  British  navy  that  he  and  his  allies  could  put  an 
army  across  the  English  Channel  unhindered.  I  need  not  say  that  his  in- 
vasion of  England  never  was  even  attempted ;  but  for  a  time  his  fleet  did  hold 
command  of  the  Mediterranean  —  a  state  of  things  to  which  an  end  was  put 
by  England's  most  famous  naval  hero,  Horatio  Nelson. 

A  long  series  of  brilliant  exploits  had  given  Nelson  fame,  and  the  vig- 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


12 


orous  accounts  of  them  he  used  to  send  home  helped  his  great  popularity. 
A  large  part  of  his  service  had  been  in  American  waters. 

In  1798  Nelson  was  a  rear-admiral,  and  was  sent  to  the  Mediterranean 
after  the  French  fleet,  which,  having  convoyed  Napoleon's  army  to  its 
landing  at  Alexandria,  was  ready  for  new  operations.  It  is  characteristic  of 
the  slow  and  almost  useless  methods  of  gaining  intelligence  in  those  days, 


WHEN   DECATUR  WAS  A   MIDSHIPMAN. 


that  from  early  June  to  the  end  of  July  Nelson  searched  for  this  flotilla,  and 
was  unable  to  get  more  news  of  it  than  an  occasional  rumor  that  it  had  been 
at  some  place  or  other  days  or  weeks  before.  The  French  knew  no  more 
as  to  the  movements  of  their  pursuers,  yet  the  fleets  were  twice  within  a 
few  miles  of  each  other.  This  was  Nelson's  first  independent  command, 
and  his   patience   and    nerves  were  nearly  worn   out  by  anxiety. 

At  last,  on  the  first  day  of  August,  the  English  almost  stumbled  on  the 
French  at  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Aboukir,  among  the  mouths  of  the  Nile, 


124  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

between  Alexandria  and  Rosetta  —  a  shallow  roadstead  full  of  shoals  and 
rocks,  for  which  Nelson  had  neither  chart  nor  pilot. 

In  the  interior  of  this  bay  lay  the  Napoleonic  squadron,  under  Admiral 
Brueys,  in  such  fancied  security  that  a  large  part  of  the  crews  was  ashore, 
and  some  of  the  ships  unprepared  for  a  battle  when  the  British  appeared. 
It  was  anchored  in  line  of  battle,  however,  and  consisted  of  thirteen  ships 
of  the  line,  the  central  one  being  the  flagship  Orie7ii,  having  120  guns,  and 
probably  the  largest  and  most  complete  war-ship  then  afloat.  On  each  side 
of  her  were  the  Franklin  and  the  Tonnant,  of  80  guns  each,  and  none  of 
the  others  were  greatly  inferior. 

The  British  had  also  thirteen  ships,  but  none  was  the  equal  of  the  best 
French,  and  one  of  them  did  not  engage  in  the  attack  at  all.  Knowing 
nothing  of  the  harbor,  and  aware  that  all  his  ships  drew  much  water, — 
perhaps  thirty  feet, —  Nelson  had  to  make  a  long  and  very  cautious  de- 
tour, throwing  the  lead  every  moment  and  feeling  his  way  in.  It  was  then 
late  in  the  afternoon,  and  half-past  six  before  the  Goliath,  leading  the  col- 
umn, got  near  enough  to  attract  the  French  fire.  Replying,  but  not  halting, 
the  Goliath,  followed  closely  by  the  Zealous  and  Orion,  made  for  the  head 
of  the  line,  and  then  with  a  daring  unrivaled,  for  there  was  barely  enough 
water  to  float  their  keels,  these  ships  slowly  turned  around  the  foremost 
French  vessel  and  dropped  their  anchors  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy's  line. 
The  other  ships,  as  they  came  up,  ranged  alongside  the  front  of  the  French, 
and  the  deepening  twilight  resounded  with  such  a  roar  of  broadsides  as 
never  will  be  heard  again. 

In  the  darkness  and  smoke  an  English  seventy-four,  the  Bellerophon, 
had  engaged  the  monstrous  Orient,  and  in  a  short  time  had  been  crushed  ; 
all  her  masts  were  swept  out  of  her,  two  hundred  of  her  people  were 
killed  and  wounded,  and  she  drifted  out  of  action.  But  nearly  the  same  fate 
had  by  that  time  overtaken  the  French  Guerriere,  for  the  Theseus  had  coolly 
placed  herself  where  she  could  rake  the  anchored  ship  and  tear  her  to  pieces. 
The  moment  the  Bellerophon  drifted  off,  however,  her  place  was  taken  by 
two  newly  arrived  frigates,  and  the  Orient  presently  found  herself  the  target 
of  three  ships  which  slowly  but  surely  were  cutting  her  to  pieces  in  spite  of 
her  tremendous  resistance.  Her  admiral  had  been  killed  on  her  deck,  where 
half  her  officers  and  men  lay  dead  or  wounded,  when  it  was  suddenly  seen 
that  she  was  on  fire,  and  the  whole  battle  was  instinctively  suspended  to 
watch  the  magnificent  spectacle,  save  where  some  still  poured  in  shot  and 
shell  to  prevent  the  French  crew  from  extinguishing  the  flames. 

Pow^erless  either  to  save  their  ship  or  launch  their  boats,  the  remnant 
of  the  Orie?ifs  crew  could  only  fling  themselves  into  the  water  and  trust 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


125 


to  the  mingled  boats  of  friends  and  foes  to  pick  them  up.  The  ships  near- 
est sHpped  their  cables,  and  tried  to  edge  away  out  of  danger  as  the  flames 
enveloped  the  towering  masts,  burning  with  amazing  fierceness  in  the  tarred 
rigging  and  lighting  up  the  desert  for  miles  inland,  while  the  hull  became  a 
furnace.  Suddenly,  at  a  quarter  before  ten,  a  volcano-like  explosion  tore 
the  glowing  old  battle-ship   asunder,  a  torrent  of  burning  fragments  was 


DRAWN  BY  WARREN  8HEPPAR0. 


THE   "THESEUS"   ATTACKING  THE   "GUERRIERE." 


hurled  aloft, —  with  how  many  dead  heroes,  no  one  knows, —  and  double 
darkness  closed  over  the  appalling  scene.  Then  the  black  waves  were 
lighted  anew  by  the  flash  of  cannon  and  musketry,  and  the  battle  went  on 
until  daylight  before  the  last  of  the  French  vessels  had  been  conquered,  while 
two  of  them  had  managed  to  steal  away.  Of  the  other  eleven  one  had  been 
burned  and  sunk,  three  had  gone  ashore,  where  one  burned,  and  the  remain- 
der had  been  crushed  into  surrendering.  The  English  did  not  lose  a  single 
vessel,  for  even  the  dismantled  Bellerophon  could  float,  and  their  loss  in  men 
was  far  less  than  that  of  the  French. 

Historians  tell  us  that  this  victory  was  the  grandest  naval  success  on 
record.  Nelson  himself  said  that  victory  was  too  weak  a  term  —  it  was  a 
catastrophe.  It  put  an  end  at  once  to  Napoleon's  campaign  in  Egypt,  and 
to  all  his  designs  against  India.  It  gave  the  command  of  the  Mediterranean 
to  England,  emboldened  Turkey  and  Russia  to  recover  the  Ionian  Islands, 


126  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

gave  Naples  a  chance  to  assert  herself,  and  aroused  Austria  and  Russia  to 
resist  by  armies  Napoleon's  aggressions,  so  that  from  this  battle  dates  his 
downfall.  Its  influence  soon  reached  the  United  States,  and  caused  it  to 
break  through  its  neutrality  and  begin  upon  the  sea  that  naval  war  with 
France  of  which  we  hear  very  little  nowadays,  but  which  gave  to  our  own 
naval  record  such  glorious  incidents  as  Truxton's  battles  in  the  Constellation 
with  L Insiirgente  and  La  Vengeance,  and  Captain  Little's  capture,  in  the 
corvette  Boston,  of  the  French  sloop-of-war  Le  Berceau. 

Nelson  remained  in  the  Mediterranean  for  some  years,  by  no  means  idle, 
and  then  did  service  of  extraordinary  value  elsewhere,  as  at  the  battle  of 
Copenhagen,  which  in  a  single  remarkable  conflict  put  an  end  to  a  northern 
conspiracy  against  England,  and  saved  her  a  vast  deal  of  trouble ;  but  his 
final  service  was  the  most  momentous  of  all,  at  any  rate  for  the  fortunes  of 
Great  Britain  alone,  and  this  was  the  winning  of  the. battle  of  Trafalgar. 

In  1805  Napoleon  had  prepared  for  another  grand  invasion  of  England, 
and  with  great  skill  had  gathered  a  fleet  of  allied  French  and  Spanish  ves- 
sels, which  was  to  protect  and  cooperate  with  the  strong  army  he  proposed 
to  land  along  the  Kentish  shores.  This  fleet  was  commanded  by  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  and  assembled  at  Cadiz,  where,  in  October,  1805,  it  was  being 
watched  by  an  English  fleet,  commanded  by  Nelson  and  Collingwood,  con- 
sisting of  thirty-three  ships  of  the  line;  twenty-seven  of  these  were  present 
when,  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  the  allies,  twenty-nine  battle-ships  strong, 
came  sailing  out,  hoping  to  avoid  battle  if  possible.  This,  Nelson  was  re- 
solved, should  not  happen  ;  and  dividing  his  forces  into  two  columns,  he 
made  at  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  strike  their  line  (then  off  Cape  Trafalgar) 
in  the  middle  of  its  crescent.  The  wind  was  very  light,  and  an  hour  or 
more  elapsed  before  even  the  heads  of  the  line  struck  the  enemy,  so  that 
there  was  plenty  of  time  to  make  every  preparation,  and  there  was  constant 
instruction  by  signaling  from  Nelson's  flagship  Victory.  Then  at  the  last 
moment,  when  the  first  gun  was  ready  to  be  fired,  there  rose  upon  the  signal 
halyards  of  the  Victory  the  message  that,  received  with  ringing  cheers,  has 
been  an  inspiration  to  patriots  the  world  around  ever  since  — 

England  expects  every  man  will  do  his  duty. 

A  few  moments  later  Collingwood  in  the  Royal  Sovereign,  and  Nelson 
in  the  Victory,  were  in  the  thick  of  the  foreign  fleet,  which  awaited  them  in 
disorderly  array,  but  closed  about  these  two,  bent  upon  destroying  them  if 
possible  before  any  others  could  come  up.  The  fury  of  the  duels  that 
ensued,  where  ships  were  mixed  in  disorder,  and  sometimes  three  or  four 
ai^ainst  one,  passes  adequate  description.     None,  perhaps,  fared  worse  than 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 

England      expects  every  man  will  do  his  D 


127 


DRAWN    FROM   THE  MODEL   IN  THE  GREENWICH    MUSEUM. 


NELSON'S  SIGNAL. 


the  Belle  Isle,  a  large  English  two-decker  that  was  the  first  to  reach 
the  scene  after  the  Royal  Sovereign,  and  to  draw  off  some  of  the  fire  that 
threatened  to  pulverize  Collingwood's  ship. 

The  wreckage  and  suffering  on  other  ships  were  almost  as  great.  The 
very  first  broadside  of  the  Royal  Sovereign,  taking  the  Santa  Ana,  struck 
down  400  out  of  the  1000  persons  aboard;  and  the  Sovereign  herself  soon 
lost  every  mast.  The  Santissima  Trinidada,  a  Spanish  four-decker,  and 
the  largest  ship  then  afloat,  was  reduced  to  a  wreck,  and  a  dozen  others 
lost  a  part  or  all  of  their  masts.  As  for  the  Victory,  she  was  always  in  the 
thick  of  it,  receiving  at  one  time  the  concentrated  fire  of  seven  hostile  bat- 
tle-ships, yet  was  not  too  much  disabled  to  be  manceuvered.  Her  captain's 
aim  was  to  engage  directly  with  the  French  flagship  Btuentaure,  but  she 
was  closely  attended  by  three  other  large  ships,  and  diflicult  to  reach. 
Nevertheless,  the  Victory  finally  got  across  her  stern,  and  from  a  few  yards 
distance  poured  in  a  broadside  which,  sweeping  the  whole  length  of  her 
interior,  dismounted  twenty  guns,  and  killed  and  wounded  400  men.  As 
she  passed  on,  returning  the  fire  of  the  other  vessels  near  by,  she  was 
closely  followed  by  the  Temeraire,  the  second  English  ship,  which  had 
already  become  almost  unmanageable ;  and  a  lifting  of  the  smoke  showed 
her  smashing  a  little  French  frigate,  the  Redoubtable,  which,  by  and  by,  was 
captured  after  almost  every  man  had  been  killed,  and  she  was  in  a  sinking 
condition.  The  astonishing  resistance  of  this  little  vessel,  and  the  damage 
she  did  by  soldiers  with  muskets  crowded  in  her  tops  and  firing  down  upon 
the  decks  of  the  English  ships,  form  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  incidents 
of  naval  history ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  she  inflicted  upon  Great 
Britain  as  great  harm  as  all  the  rest  of  the  allies  put  together,  for  it  was  a 
musket-ball  from  the  mizzentop  of  the  Redoubtable  that  struck  down,  early 
in  the  action,  the  great  Nelson  himself  He  seemed  to  have  had  a  feeling, 
even  before  leaving  England,  that  he  would  not  survive  this  campaign,  and 


128  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

knew  his  wound  was  mortal  the  instant  it  was  received.  He  was  carried 
below,  and  remained  alive  and  conscious  about  three  hours,  eagerly  listen- 
ing to  reports  of  the  progress  of  the  fight,  and  rejoicing  at  last  in  a  know- 
ledge of  victory.  His  last  words,  murmured  again  and  again,  with  his 
failing  breath,  seemed  an  answer  to  his  signaled  injunction,  for  they  were : 
"  Thank  God  I  have  done  my  duty.'' 

Other  men  [writes  Captain  Mahan]  have  died  in  the  hour  of  victory,  but  to  no  other 
has  victory  so  singular  and  so  signal  stamped  the  fulfilment  and  completion  of  a  great  life's 
work.  "  Finis  coronat  opus  "  has  of  no  man  been  more  true  than  of  Nelson.  Results  momen- 
tous and  stupendous  were  to  flow  from  the  annihilation  of  all  sea  pov/er  except  that  of  Great 
Britain,  which  was  Nelson's  great  achievement;  but  his  part  was  done  when  Trafalgar  was 
fought,  and  his  death  in  the  moment  of  completed  success  has  obtained  for  that  superb  victory 
an  immortality  of  fame  which  even  its  own  grandeur  could  scarcely  have  insured. 

Xo  such  fleet  actions  as  this  ever  occurred  in  North  American  waters 
in  the  time  of  the  "old  navy,"  though  there  was  plenty  of  cruising  and 
fighting  up  and  down  the  coast  and  in  the  West  Indies.  The  United 
States  had  made  its  new  flag  respected  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  it  was  done  mainly  in  European  waters,  where  that  marvelous 
captain,  Paul  Jones,  had  been  defying  enemies  to  the  point  of  rashness. 

Paul  Jones  was  the  first  man  to  hoist  our  national  ensign  (the  rattlesnake 
flag)  on  an  American  ship,  and  again  the  first  to  hoist  the  stars  and  stripes, 
and  was  the  ranking  officer  of  the  continental  navy.  He  records  that  "in 
the  Revolution  he  had  twenty-three  battles  and  solemn  rencounters  by  sea ; 
made  seven  descents  in  Britain  and  her  colonies  ;  took  of  her  navy  two  ships 
of  equal  and  two  of  far  superior  force,"  and  so  on.  It  is  true  that  he  alone 
of  his  day  steadfastly  refused  to  acknowledge  England's  supremacy  of  the 
seas;  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  alone  was  never  struck  to  Great 
Britain  except  under  force  of  honorable  combat;  and  that  on  the  ships 
commanded  by  Paul  Jones  it  was  never  struck  at  all ! 

Every  Yankee  school-boy  knows  of  the  terrible  fight  of  the  crazy  old 
sloop -of- war  Bo7i  Homme  Richard  against  the  Serapis,  a  new  English  50- 
gun  frigate  in  the  North  Sea,  in  which  a  sinking  and  burning  and  shot- 
riddled  vessel,  able  after  the  first  broadside  to  bring  only  three  or  four  small 
guns  into  practice,  conquered  and  captured  her  twice-greater  antagonist. 
It  is  not  a  story  one  can  tell  in  a  few  words,  but  it  was  a  deed  that  is  re- 
garded in  naval  annals  as  among  the  most  extraordinary  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  it  won  for  the  new  republic  a  credit  in  Europe  that  was 
of  vast  benefit  to  it  and  all  its  wandering  citizens. 

Great  Britain,   though  humiliated,  had  not  been  seriously  hurt  by  the 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


129 


loss  of  two  or  three  ships  out  of  her  six  hundred,  and  she  still  tried  to  en- 
force against  the  rising  naval  power  on  the  west  side  of  the  Atlantic  the 
subservience  which  she  received  along  its  eastern  shores.  It  took  the 
form  of  asserting  her  right  to  stop  and  board  any  American  vessel,  gov- 
ernmental or  private,  and  seize  and  impress  into  her  own  service  any  Brit- 
ish subject  found  serving  in  the  crew.  This  always  met  with  protest  and  re- 
sistance, and  at  last  became  so  galling 
that  in  181 2  the  United  States  declared 
war  against  Great  Britain's  might  rather 
than  continue  to  submit  to  it. 

This  might  gradually  overcame  us, 
and  British  fleets  sailed  up  and  down 
our  coasts  unhindered,  but  not  until  the 
enemy  had  been  surprised  by  many 
harder  knocks  than  they  anticipated, 
and  had  learned  one  thing  for  certain, — 
that  while  man  for  man  the  Yankees 
were  equally  good  seamen  and  fighters, 
they  were  better  ship-builders,  and  could 
teach  lessons  in  that  art  which  their  ene- 
mies were  not  above  learning:  and  finally 
we  won  by  sheer  force  of  victories  at  sea. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  six  frigates  which  were  used  in  that  war,  as 
admittedly  the  best  of  their  kind  in  the  world.  Except  the  unlucky  Chesa- 
peake, which  was  rashly  carried  unprepared  into  the  fatal  action  against  the 
Shannon,  where  Lawrence  lost  his  life,  but  won  undying  fame  in  the  mem- 
ory of  his  countrymen  by  his  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship,"  all  did  glorious 
work.  Thus,  the  United  States  under  Decatur  reduced  to  a  wreck  off 
Madeira,  and  brought  as  a  prize  to  New  York,  the  British  44-gun  frigate 
Macedonian  in  October,  181 2,  itself  remaining  almost  uninjured, —  a  victory 
due  to  superior  seamanship  and  gunnery. 

The  same  skill,  using  a  ship  of  superior  sailing  power,  accounted  largely 
for  the  splendid  victory  of  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  Wasp  (18  guns), 
a  week  earlier,  near  Bermuda,  in  an  encounter  with  the  British  sloop  Frolic 
(19  guns),  where  in  three  quarters  of  an  hour  the  Frolic  was  totally  dis- 
masted and  reduced  to  a  rolling  wreck,  with  ninety  killed  or  wounded  out 
of  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  ten,  while  the  Wasp's  loss  was  only  ten.  A 
British  seventy-four  then  came  up  and  captured  both  the  victor  and  her 
prize  ;  but  eighteen  months  later  a  second  Wasp,  by  reason  of  her  better 
gunnery,  cut  to   pieces  at  different  times  two  other  ships  with  compara- 


BARON   NELSON    OF   THE   NILE. 


I30 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


THE   "FROLIC"    REDUCED   TO  A   WRECK   BY   THE   FIRST   "WASP"    (1812). 


tively  small  injury  to  herself.  Nor  could  the  President  have  given  so  good 
an  account  of  herself  in  her  unfortunate  encounter  with  the  Belvidera,  and 
again  when  chased  and  finally  captured  by  the  squadron  led  by  the  Endy- 
mio7i,  had  not  her  sailing  qualities  and  gunnery  been  of  so  high  an  order  — 
qualities  which  also  distinguished  the  American  fleets  on  Lake  Erie  and 
Lake  Champlain. 

But  the  honors  of  that  brilliant  naval  war  belonged  chiefly,  after  all,  to 
the  Constitution  —  "  Old  Ironsides,"  as  the  people  loved  to  call  her, —  which 
is  enshrined  in  the  history  and  hearts  of  the  United  States  as  Nelson's 
Victory  is  in  those  of  Great  Britain. 

The  Constitution  was  the  finest,  perhaps,  of  the  United  States  frigates, 
and  a  favorite  ship  with  commanders,  yet  her  fame  began  with  her  success 
in  running  away,  Broke's  British  squadron  chasing  her  three  nights  and 
two  days,  only  to  lose  her  after  all.  The  winds  were  so  light  that  she  sent 
out  her  boats  to  help  the  sails  urge  her  forward.  It  was  only  a  few  days 
after  that  (August  19,  181 2)  that  Commodore  Isaac  Hull,  cruising  in  search 
of  the  British  vessel  Guerriere  (the  same  that  had  been  captured  from  the 
French  in  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  and  again  dismasted  at  Trafalgar),  over- 
hauled her  off  the  coast  of  Newfoundland.  The  London  newspapers  had 
not  only  been  sneering  at  the  Constitution  as  "  a  bundle  of  pine  boards  sail- 
ing under  a  bit  of  striped  bunting,"  but  Captain  Dacres  had  sent  a  boastful 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES  I3I 

challenge  to  Hull  to  meet  him  and  see  what  would  happen.  The  vessels, 
though  nominally  of  different  rate,  were  actually  in  close  equality,  and  both 
crews  were  eager  for  a  fair  fight.  It  was  already  well  along  in  the  after- 
noon, and  the  sea  was  rough,  but  Hull  would  not  reply  to  the  enemy's  fire 
until  he  was  within  pistol-shot,  then  his  broadside  opened. 

"  Fifteen  minutes  after  the  contest  began,"  to  quote  Lossing's  lively  account,  "  the  mizzen- 
mast  of  the  Guerriere  was  shot  away,  her  mainyard  was  in  slings,  and  her  hull,  spars,  sails,  and 
rigging  were  torn  to  pieces.  By  a  skilful  movement,  the  Constitution  now  fell  foul  of  her  foe, 
her  bowsprit  running  into  the  larboard  quarter  of  her  antagonist.  The  cabin  of  the  Constitution 
was  set  on  fire  by  the  explosion  of  the  forward  guns  of  the  Guerriere,  but  the  flames  were  soon 
extinguished.  Both  parties  attempted  to  board,  while  the  roar  of  the  great  guns  was  terrific. 
The  sea  was  roUing  heavily,  and  would  not  permit  a  safe  passage  from  one  vessel  to  the  other. 
At  length  the  Constitution  became  disentangled,  and  shot  ahead  of  the  Guerriere,  when  the  main- 
mast of  the  latter,  shattered  into  weakness,  fell  into  the  sea.  The  Guerriere,  shivered  and  shorn, 
rolled  like  a  log  in  the  trough  of  the  billows.  Hull  sent  his  compliments  to  Captain  Dacres, 
and  inquired  whether  he  had  struck  his  flag.  Dacres,  who  was  a  'jolly  tar,'  looking  up  and 
down  at  the  stumps  of  his  masts,  coolly  and  dryly  replied :  '  Well,  I  don't  know.  Our  mizzen- 
mast  is  gone,  our  mainmast  is  gone, —  upon  the  whole  you  may  say  we  have  struck  our  flag.'  " 

Too  completely  wrecked  to  be  of  any  further  use,  the  historic  old  ship  was 
set  on  fire  and  blown  up,  and  so  ended  her  pride  and  her  story.  Hull  lost 
only  fourteen  men  killed  and  wounded,  while  the  British  lost  seventy,  dead, 
and  all  the  survivors  prisoners.  This  calamity,  on  the  heels  of  similar  suc- 
cesses elsewhere  for  the  "bit  of  striped  bunting,"  spread  consternation 
throughout  Great  Britain  not  only,  but  in  the  other  European  monarchies, 
for  it  presaged  the  rise  of  a  new  power  to  be  reckoned  with,  where  novel 
and  superior  instruments  and  methods  of  warfare  opposed  uncalculated 
forces  to  the  old  regime. 

This  conviction  was  enforced  upon  Europe  anew  only  four  months  later 
by  the  Constitution  overtaking  and  crushing  in  West  Indian  waters  the 
3 8 -gun  frigate  Java,  which  also  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge,  because 
the  wreck  was  not  worth  saving;  and  again  the  British  loss  was  many 
times  greater  than  the  American.  Captain  William  Bainbridge,  who  had 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Mediterranean,  was  her  commander. 

Various  successes  marked  her  career  for  the  next  two  years,  until, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Charles  Stewart,  she  had  her  memorable 
adventure  off  Madeira,  in  which  she  engaged  with  the  two  British  ships 
Cyane,  thirty-six  guns,  and  Levant,  eighteen  guns,  and  captured  both,  with 
a  loss  of  only  three  men  killed  and  twelve  wounded.  Stewart  set  sail  with 
his  prizes  and  prisoners  for  Porto  Praya,  whence  he  purposed  sending  his 
prisoners  to  New  York  in  a  captured  merchantman.     Reaching  there  on 


132 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


THE   "CONSTITUTION"    CHASED   BY   CAPTAIN   BROKE'S   SQUADRON. 

The  ports  on  the  upper  deck  aft  were  roughly  cut  to  meet  the  emergency.     The  sailors  in  the  rigging 

threw  water  from  buckets  upon  the  sails  to  make  them  hold  better  the  faint  breeze,  and 

below  hose  pipe  was  used  to  the  same  purpose.     During  the  three  days' 

chase  boats  were  sent  out  to  tow,  and  kedge-anchors 

were  used  to  warp  the  ship  forward. 


]\Iarch  loth,  he  was  next  day  busy  at  these  arrangements,  when  the  topsails 
of  several  men-of-war  were  seen  entering  the  harbor  through  the  prevailing 
fo^^     Havino-  no  trust  that,  if  these  were  British,  their  commanders  would 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES  1 33 

respect  the  courtesies  of  a  weak  neutral  port,  Stewart  felt  that  his  only- 
chance  was  to  try  to  run  away  in  the  fog,  and  made  immediate  preparations 
to  do  so,  sending  word  to  the  Levant  and  Cyane  to  follow.  Being  discov- 
ered by  the  strangers  —  three  large  British  frigates  —  at  the  outlet  of  the 
harbor,  their  escape  immediately  became  a  question  of  seamanship  and 
sailing.  Here  the  Americans  showed  their  superiority,  and  effectually 
dodging  both  the  ships  and  the  cannon-balls  of  the  pursuers,  the  Levant 
got  back  under  the  protection  of  the  guns  of  the  fort  at  Porto  Praya,  while 
the  Constitution  and  Levant  fairly  outsailed  the  frigates  and  escaped. 

In  1830  brave  Old  Ironsides  was  condemned  as  worn  out,  and  ordered 
to  be  sold.  But,  as  a  similar  sad  fate  overtaking  the  "  Fighting  Temeraire  " 
had  been  made  the  occasion  of  an  immortal  painting  by  Turner,  and  so, 
perhaps,  had  caused  Nelson's  still  more  famous  battle-ship  Victory  to  be  pre- 
served in  the  harbor  of  Portsmouth  as  a  shrine  of  naval  inspiration,  so  the 
obloquy  that  menaced  the  Constitution  now  fired  the  heart  of  a  young  poet 
to  write  a  passionate  appeal  to  pa- 
triotism. Who  does  not  know  Dr. 
Holmes's    ringing    stanzas?  — 

Oh,  better  that  her  shattered  hulk 

Should  sink  beneath  the  wave; 
Her  thunders  shook  the  mighty  deep, 

And  there  should  be  her  grave. 
Nail  to  the  mast  her  holy  flag, 

Set  every  threadbare  sail, 
And  give  her  to  the  God  of  Storms, 

The  lightning  and  the  gale!  HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

The  country  caught  the  spirit,  and  such  a  cry  of  protest  went  up  that 
the  vandalism  was  stayed,  and  Old  Ironsides  was  again  repaired  —  hardly 
anything  but  her  ornaments  was  now  left  of  the  original  structure  —  and 
took  several  cruises,  one  of  which  was  in  carrying  wheat  to  famine-stricken 
Ireland.  Later  she  was  used  as  a  school-ship,  but  finally  became  worthless 
even  for  that,  and  in  1895  the  question  arose  whether  she  should  be  broken 
up  at  the  Brooklyn  navy-yard  or  towed  around  to  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  there  laid  up  in  a  line  with  the  Macedonian  and  a  few  other 
ancient  hulks  that  were  rotting  quietly  away  in  honorable  age,  and  have 
now  wholly  disappeared.  Sentiment  dictated  the  latter  course,  and,  with  a 
crew  aboard,  prepared  to  take  to  their  boats  at  a  moment's  notice,  the  leak- 
ing and  crazy  old  warrior,  stately  even  yet,  and  sadly  saluted  by  every  fort 
and  vessel  she  passed,  crept  around  to  her  last  berth  at  Kittery  Point. 
She  is  the  last  and  the  most  glorious  representative  of  the  "  old  navy." 
9* 


'J  V'>vv;i^{,(,iu,tt»ai 


CHAPTER  VI 

( Continued) 

WAR-SHIPS   AND    NAVAL   BATTLES 

PART    II THE    PRESENT    ERA    OF    STEAM    AND    STEEL 

HE  introduction  of  steam  made  little  difference  in  naval 
affairs  at  first,  so  far  as  either  strategy  or  tactics  are  con- 
cerned, although  it  changed  the  conditions  of  naval  action 
in  two  principal  ways  and  in  many  minor  ones.  Ships  could 
now,  like  the  early  galleys,  be  placed  in  any  position  the 
commander  pleased,  and,  unlike  galleys,  this  effort  could  be  sustained  a 
long  time,  for  engines  do  not  tire  out  like  human  arms.  On  the  other 
hand,  ships  propelled  by  steam  needed  to  return  to  port  at  frequent  inter- 
vals to  obtain  coal,  and  naval  powers  found  it  necessary  to  provide,  either 
by  possession  or  treaty,  safe  coaling-stations  in  various  parts  of  the  world 
for  the  use  of  their  cruising  fleets. 

The  first  steam  war-ships  were  naturally  fitted  with  side  paddle-wheels; 
but  as  soon  as  the  screw-propeller  came  into  use  the  navy  was  quick  to 
adopt  it.  "  By  its  use  the  whole  motive  power  could  be  protected  by  being 
placed  below  the  water-line.  It  interfered  much  less  than  the  paddle  with 
the  efficiency  and  handiness  of  the  vessel  under  sail  alone,  and  it  enabled 
ships  to  be  kept  generally  under  sail.  Great  importance  was  attached  to 
this,  as  the  handling  of  a  ship  under  sail  was  justly  thought  an  invaluable 
means  of  training  both  officers  and  men  in  ready  resource,  prompt  action, 
and  self-reliance."  For  this  reason  masts  and  sails  were  retained  long 
after  they  were  admitted  to  be  detrimental  to  the  fighting  qualities  of 
battle-ships.  Naval  reformers  had  to  wait  until  the  last  generation  of  "old 
salts,"  trained  on  "blue  water,"  had  died  off,  and  their  scornful  sneers  at 
"tea-kettle"  seamanship  had  been  silenced  in  the  only  way  possible,  before 
they  could  persuade  governments  to  build  or  men  to  serve  in  the  new  style 

•35 


136 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


THE   "KEARSARGE' 


GETTING   INTO    POSITION    TO   RAKE   THE 
AT  THE    CLOSE   OF   THE  COMBAT. 


ALABAMA  " 


of  vessels.  In  truth,  the  transition  from  the  fighting  machinery  and  meth- 
ods that  prevailed  until,  say,  the  bombardment  of  Acre,  in  1840,  to  those 
that  decided  the  inferiority  of  China  in  her  struggles  with  Japan  at  the 
Yalu   and  elsewhere,   was  rapid  enough   to  make  even  a  sea-dog  dizzy. 

Excellent  types  of  the  war-steamers,  intermediate  between  the  old  two- 
and  three-deckers  and  the  sailless  "ironclads"  that  followed,  were  those 
two  actors  in  that  most  glorious  sea-fight  of  the  American  Civil  War  — 
the  Kcarsarge  and  Alabama. 

In  this  great  fight,  which  took  place  a  few  miles  off  the  harbor  of  Cher- 
bourg, France,  one  beautiful  summer  Sunday  (June  19th)  in  1864,  much  the 
same  tactics  prevailed  as  in  any  one  of  the  earlier  ocean  duels.  As  the 
Alabama  came  on  she  began  firing  the  two-hundred-pound  pivot-rifle  for- 
ward, which  was  her  main  gun,  while  the  Kearsarge  was  yet  a  mile  away. 
The  latter  waited  a  little  before  replying,  but  only  a  few  moments  elapsed 
before  both  were  near  enough  and  hard  at  it,  each  doing  its  best  to  get  a 
position  ahead  of  its  antagonist  for  raking, —  a  disadvantage  which  the 
other  steadily  avoided ;  and  this  caused  them  to  follow  one  another  about  in 
advancing  circles,  of  which  seven  were  described  before  the  end  came. 

We  have  a  story  of  the  battle  as  seen  from  the  deck  of  the  Kearsarge, 
written  by  her  surgeon,  who  had  little  to  do  except  observe  the  conflict. 

The  Kcarsarge  gunners  [he  tells  us]  had  been  cautioned  against  firing  without  direct  aim, 
and  had  been  advised  to  point  the  heavy  guns  below  rather  than  above  the  water-line,  and  to 
clear  the  tlcck  of  the  enemy  with  the  lighter  ones.  Though  subjected  to  an  incessant  storm 
of  shot  and  shell,  they  kept  their  stations  and  obeyed  instructions. 

The  eftect  upon  the  enemy  was  readily  perceived,  and  nothing  could  restrain  the  enthusiasm 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES  137 

of  our  men.  Cheer  succeeded  cheer ;  caps  were  thrown  in  the  air  or  overboard ;  jackets  were 
discarded ;  sanguine  of  victory,  the  men  were  shouting  as  each  projectile  took  effect :  "  That  is 
a  good  one  !  "  "  Down,  boys !  "  "  Give  her  another  like  the  last !  "  "  Now  we  have  her !  " 
and  so  on,  cheering  and  shouting  to  the  end. 

After  exposure  to  an  uninterrupted  cannonade  for  eighteen  minutes  without  casualties,  a 
sixty-eight-pounder  Blakely  shell  passed  through  the  starboard  bulwarks  below  the  main  rigging, 
exploded  upon  the  quarterdeck,  and  wounded  three  of  the  crew  of  the  after  pivot-gun.  With 
these  exceptions,  not  an  officer  or  man  received  serious  injury.  The  three  unfortunates  were 
speedily  taken  below,  and  so  quietly  was  the  act  done,  that  at  the  termination  of  the  fight  a 
large  number  of  the  men  were  unaware  that  any  of  their  comrades  were  wounded.  Two  shots 
entered  the  ports  occupied  by  the  thirty-twos,  where  several  men  were  stationed,  one  taking 
effect  in  the  hammock-netting,  the  other  going  through  the  opposite  port,  yet  none  were  hit. 
A  shell  exploded  in  the  hammock-netting  and  set  the  ship  on  fire ;  the  alarm  calling  for  fire- 
quarters  was  sounded,  and  men  detailed  for  such  an  emergency  put  out  the  fire,  while  the  rest 
stayed  at  the  guns. 

The  Kearsarge  concentrated  her  fire  and  poured  in  the  eleven-inch  shells  with  deadly  effect. 
One  penetrated  the  coal-bunker  of  the  Alabama,  and  a  dense  cloud  of  coal-dust  arose.  Others 
struck  near  the  water-line  between  the  main  and  mizzen  masts,  exploded  within  board,  or  passing 
through  burst  beyond.  Crippled  and  torn,  the  Alabama  moved  less  quickly  and  began  to  settle 
by  the  stem,  yet  did  not  slacken  her  fire,  but  returned  successive  broadsides  without  disastrous 
result  to  us. 

Captain  Semmes  witnessed  the  havoc  made  by  the  shells,  especially  by  those  of  our  after 
pivot-gun,  and  offered  a  reward  for  its  silence.  Soon  his  battery  was  turned  upon  this  particular 
offending  gun  for  the  purpose  of  silencing  it.  It  was  in  vain,  for  the  work  of  destruction  went 
on.  We  had  completed  the  seventh  rotation  on  the  circular  track  and  begun  the  eighth ;  the 
Alabama,  now  settling,  sought  to  escape  by  setting  all  available  sail  (fore-trysail  and  two  jibs), 
left  the  circle,  amid  a  shower  of  shot  and  shell,  and  headed  for  the  French  waters ;  but  to  no 
purpose.  In  winding  the  Alabajna  presented  the  port  battery  with  only  two  guns  bearing,  and 
showed  gaping  sides  through  which  the  water  washed.  The  Kearsarge  pursued,  keeping  on  a 
line  nearer  the  shore,  and  with  a  few  well-directed  shots  hastened  the  sinking  condition.  Then 
the  Alabafiia  was  at  our  mercy.     Thus  ended  the  fight  after  one  hour  and  two  minutes. 


One  incident  of  this  battle  much  talked  of  at  the  time,  and  given  as  an 
excuse  for  their  defeat  by  the  Confederates  (though  without  good  reason), 
was  the  fact  that  the  waist  of  the  Kearsarge,  opposite  the  engines,  was  pro- 
tected by  anchor-chains,  hung  in  close  festoons  on  the  outside  of  the  ship, 
and  kept  in  place  and  concealed  by  a  boxing  of  thin  boards.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  the  first  attempt  at  protecting  ships  by  armor,  which  had  now 
become  necessary  to  meet  successfully  the  better  guns  and  projectiles  that 
year  by  year  were  increased  in  penetrative  power.  New  powders  and  explo- 
sives were  constantly  being  invented  also,  each  more  effective  than  the  pre- 
ceding ;  and  as  these  were  not  only  used  in  guns  but  applied  to  the  filling 
of  shells,  these  bursting  missiles  for  a  time  almost  displaced  solid  shot. 

Along  with  this  the  discovery  and  perfection  of  the  Bessemer  and  other 
processes  of  making  steel,  and  methods  of  adapting  rifling  to  great  cannon, 


138 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


produced  a  rapid  and  varied  increase  in  size  and  an  improvement  in  quality 
in  the  guns  supplied  to  ships  as  well  as  in  those  used  upon  shore. 

Against  these  new  weapons  the  old  "  wooden  walls  "  were  of  no  avail. 
Oak  and  teak,  however  sound  and  thick,  failed  to  turn  aside  the  conical 

projectiles  as  they  had  the 
I  old  round  shot  and  shell. 
The  ponderous  missiles 
would  crash  clear  through, 
smashing  everything  in 
their  path,  and  sending 
showers  of  death-dealing 
splinters  right  and  left. 
The  navy  had  to  protect 
itself  by  a  revival  of  the 
armor  with  which  knights 
of  the  middle  ages  guarded 
against  arrows  and  javelins 
and  sword-points.  By 
and  by,  when 


TPIE   UNITED    STATES   FRIGATE   "MERRI- 
MAC"   BEFORE   AND   AFTER   CONVER- 
SION   INTO   AN    IRONCLAD. 
Compare  with  illustration  on  page  139. 


guns  and  bullets  came,  the  knights  thickened  their  armor  in  an  attempt 
to  resist  these  new  missiles,  until  at  last  it  reached  a  weight  too  great 
to  be  carried,  and  the  whole  cumbrous  panoply  had  to  be  laid  aside,  and 
knightly  tactics  altogether  changed.  Many  persons  believe  that  this  his- 
tory will  be  repeated  in  the  case  of  the  sea-warriors  of  the  world,  which, 
within  the  memory  of  many  a  grizzled  admiral,  have  changed  from  buoyant 
and  beautiful  ships  to  grim  and  shapeless  fortresses  afloat. 

The  Americans,  fearless  of  sea-traditions,  were  the  first  to  propose  armor 
for  ships,  but  the  French  first  practically  applied  it,  building  several  "float- 
ing batteries,"  covered  with  iron  4^  inches  thick,  in  1855.  The  English 
copied  them,  in  somewhat  more  ship-shape  form  ;  and  then  the  French 
began  boldly  to  sheathe  some  of  their  frigates  with  iron  plates  and  call 
them  "ironclads."  By  this  time  iron  hulls  had  begun  to  be  used  com- 
monly in  the  British  merchant  service,  but  of  course  the  men-of-war's  men, 
the  slowest  class  of  persons  on  earth  to  accept  any  change,  insisted  that 
iron  would  by  no  means  do  for  war-ships.  Nevertheless  a  few  progressive 
spirits  persuaded  their  high-mightinesses,  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty,  to 
try  an  experiment  in  building  one,  and,  in  i860,  the  first  iron  war-ship  was 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


139 


launched  and  named  Warrior,  while  all  the  old  salts  wagged  their  heads 
and  predicted  the  end  of  "  Britannia  rules  the  waves,"  until  there  was  n't 
a  xQ.dW.y  jolly  tar  to  be  found  from  Penolar  Point  to  Pentland  Firth.  To  a 
certain  extent  these  hardy  old  growlers  were  right,  though  their  idea  of  a 
remedy  was  wrong.  It  proved  a  failure  to  build  old-style  battle-ships  of  iron 
or  even  of  steel,  or  to  coat  them  all  over  with  armor,  even  when  greatly 
thickened.  Not  only  were  they  slow  and  somewhat  unmanageable,  but  by 
the  time  one  of  them  had  been  built  with  thicker  walls  than  its  latest  rival, 
somebody  had  invented  artillery  whose  projectiles  would  penetrate  it. 
Ships  that  are  "  ship-shape,"  that  is,  possess  masts  and  sails,  but  are  con- 
structed wholly  of  iron  or  steel,  and  more  or  less  heavily  armored,  have  sur- 
vived, and  will  always  be  a  part  of  the  world's  navies,  no  doubt,  but  their 
uses  will  be  subsidiary  to  heavy  fighting ;  and  with  the  disappearance  of  the 
wooden  sailing  line-of-battle  ship  in  the  Crimean  war  and  of  the  iron  war- 
steamer  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  all  traditions  of  the  *'  old  navy  "  were 
ended  —  traditions  that  went  back  to  the  days  of  Drake. 

But  who  could  have  foreseen  that  this  swift  and  momentous  upsetting 
should  come  about,  not  through  the  efforts  of  the  great  sea  powers  of  Eu- 
rope,—  the  giants  who  had  been  struggling  for  the  control  of  the  ocean  for 
three  hundred  years, —  but  from  the  brain  and  purse  of  landsmen  in  a  coun- 
try of  the  New  World  not  taken  into  account  as  a  naval  power  at  all. 

You  need  not  be  told  that  it  was  Ericsson's  invention  and  Henry  Grin- 
nell's  building  and  Lieutenant  Worden's  courageous  fighting  of  the  little 
Monitor  in  Hampton  Roads, 
on  that  fair  March  Sunday 
in  1862,  that  brought  about 
this  change.  When  her  tur- 
ret—  the  "cheese-box  on  a 
raft "  —  successfully  withstood 
the  assault  of  that  heavily 
armed  floating  battery,  the 
MerriTfiac  (or  Virginia),  all 
the  war-ships  of  the  world  felt 
themselves  beaten,  too,  and 
wise  seamen  saw  that  they 
must  prepare  to  face  a  new  foe. 

At  once  all  maritime  governments  began  to  build  fighting-vessels  which 
were  castles  of  steel  afloat,  and  smaller  ships  for  various  services  that  more 
resembled  a  Nootka  war-canoe  in  outline  than  one  of  the  frigates  that  used 
to  do  their  work.     So  shapeless  were  they  that  a  new  term  had  to  be  used, 


Propelle 
well. 


Pilot- 
house. 


Anchor- 
well. 


SIDE   ELEVATION   AND   DECK-PLAN   OF   THE 
"MONITOR." 


140  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

and  we  began  to  call  them  cruisers.  All  war-ships,  in  fact,  are  now  classified 
by  their  work,  not  by  their  shape  or  size  or  rig. 

First,  fewest,  and  heaviest  are  the  harbor-defense  vessels  —  monitors 
and  massively  walled  floating  batteries,  intended  to  remain  in  harbors,  or 
close  to  the  coast,  as  movable  forts. 

Second,  battle-ships  —  the  strongest,  most  thickly  armored,  heavily 
armed  style  of  ships  that  can  be  made,  and  still  be  able  to  go  to  sea ;  but 
these  are  not  expected  to  leave  their  home  ports  for  a  long  time,  nor  to  go 
to  any  great  distance  unless  compelled  to  do  so  in  actual  war. 

Third,  cruisers.  These  take  the  place  of  the  old-fashioned  lesser  fight- 
ing-ships, the  seventy-fours,  frigates,  corvettes,  and  sloops,  and  vary  greatly 
in  size,  model,  speed,  and  power  of  armament. 

Fourth,  small,  swift,  strongly  armed  but  lightly  armored,  torpedo-boat 
chasers,  small  gunboats  for  use  in  rivers  and  shallow  coastal  waters,  des- 
patch-boats, dynamite-cruisers,  such  as  our  American  Vesuvius,  tow-boats, 
and  similar  minor  craft  —  the  run-abouts  of  the  naval  service. 

Fifth,  torpedo-boats. 

The  material  of  all  these  is  steel.  Wood  is  no  longer  permitted  even 
in  the  fittings  of  their  cabins,  because  wood  will  splinter  and  burn. 

The  great  hull  of  a  modern  battle-ship,  as  described  by  Lieutenant  S.  A. 
Staunton,  U.  S.  N.,  which  supports  and  carries  the  vast  weights  of  ma- 
chinery, guns,  and  armor,  aggregating  perhaps  more  than  ten  thousand 
tons,  is  built  of  plates  of  rolled  steel,  varying  from  i  ^  inches  thick  at  the 
keel  to  ->^  inch  at  the  water-line.  These  are  closely  jointed  and  fitted, 
and  bound  together  with  straps,  angle-irons,  and  brackets,  so  as  to  make  a 
strong  unyielding  structure  braced  in  all  directions.  Then,  through  the 
central  part  of  the  ship,  at  least,  vertical  plates  are  erected  upon  the  frame 
and  outside  plating,  which  bear  a  second  or  inner  bottom,  thus  forming  the 
"double  bottom"  as  high  as  the  water-line,  having  the  space  between  the 
inner  and  outer  sheathing  separated  into  a  multitude  of  small  water-tight 
cells,  so  that  an  injury  to  the  outside  hull  would  not  cause  the  vessel  to  leak 
unless  the  inner  bottom  were  also  punctured. 

Throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  vessel,  reaching  from  side  to  side 
and  from  the  keel  to  the  main  deck,  are  many  steel  bulkheads,  sufficiently 
strong  to  resist  the  pressure  of  the  water,  and  communicating  only  by  water- 
tight doors,  so  that  even  were  an  accident,  such  as  a  collision  or  running 
upon  a  rock,  or  an  enemy's  shell,  to  open  a  hole  through  both  bottoms,  the 
ship  would  still  float,  because  the  inflowing  water  would  be  confined  to  a 
single  compartment,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  ship  dry  and  buoyant.  Nothing 
less  than  the  blow  of  a  ram,  smashing  through  everything  and  throwing 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


141 


several  compartments  into  one,  would  be  likely  to  sink  such  a  ship,  and  this 
is  one  reason  why  ramming  has  again  become  prominent  in  naval  tactics. 

But  while  safety  from  sinking  is  thus  reasonably  assured,  this  is  more 
a  precaution  of  seaworthiness  against  the  accidents  of  storms  than  to- 
ward injuries  receivable  in  battle.      Passenger   and  freight  steamers  now 


THE   FIRST   SEA-FIGHT   OF   MODERN   WAR-SHIPS. 

The  Peruvian  turret-ship  "Huascar"  between  the  fire  of  the  Chilean  ironclads  "  Almirante  Cochrane" 
and  "  Blanco  Encalada,"  October  8,  1879. 

have  the  double  bottoms  and  water-tight  compartments,  and  the  best  of 
these  have  arrangements  for  mounting  light  but  powerful  guns  upon 
their  decks,  so  that  they  may  be  utilized  by  the  government  in  a  war 
emergency  as  light  cruisers,  as  armed  transports,  as  swift  scouts,  or  in 
other  highly  important  ways ;  they  will  then  be  coated  with  a  light  protec- 
tive armor,  but  will  not  be  expected  to  engage  in  a  contest  with  a  real 
fighting-vessel. 

The  idea  of  armor-plate  is,  as  has  been  said,  scarcely  half  a  century  old, 
and  the  moment  it  was  put  on  (amid  the  jeers  of  the  old  line-of-battle  tars,  who 
thought  they  had  done  all  that  the  dignity  of  the  profession  permitted  when 


142 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


they  arranged  their  rolled-up  hammocks  along  the  bulwarks  to  catch  musket- 
balls,  and  spread  nettings  to  prevent  somewhat  the  flight  of  splinters)  inge- 
nious men  began  to  improve  their  powder  and  strengthen  their  guns  to 
overcome  the  new  defenses.  To  meet  these  improvements  armor  has  been 
increased  and  perfected,  until  now  war-vessels  are  no  longer  "ships"  in  any 
proper  sense  of  the  word,  but  floating  fortresses  of  steel,  the  names  of  whose 
defensive  parts,  even,  have  been  borrowed  from  land  fortifications,  such  as 
turret  and  barbette. 

A  limit  to  this  defensive  strength  is  marked  in  two  directions.     First, 
by  the  size  it  is  possible  to  make  a  vessel,  and  still  keep  her  seaworthy 


THE    UNITED   STATES   BATTLE-SHIP  "MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  manageable;  and,  second,  by  the  weight  of  armor  such  a  vessel  can 
carry,  in  addition  to  the  weight  of  the  framework,  machinery,  guns,  and  other 
things  necessary.  These  limits  seemed  to  be  reached  some  time  ago  in 
some  of  the  monstrous  battle-ships  built  in  Europe,  and  when  it'  was  found 
that  even  while  they  were  in  construction  rifled  guns  had  been  invented 
that  would  drive  their  projectiles  through  the  thickest  wall  of  wrought-iron 
or  steel  that  these  or  any  other  vessels  could  carry,  naval  constructors  began 
to  despair  of  keeping  ahead  of  the  gun-makers,  and  there  was  even  talk  of 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES  1 43 

abandoning  armor  altogether,  and  fighting  battles  out  with  bared  breasts  as 
we  used  to  do. 

The  percentage  of  weight  which  may  be  allotted  to  armor  in  the  design  of  a  ship  Hmits  the 
area  which  can  be  wholly  protected,  but  often  permits  the  partial  protection  of  other  areas  of 
less  importance  to  her  vitality  and  destructive  force.  Motive  power,  steering-gear,  and  maga- 
zines stand  first  upon  the  list  of  those  features  demanding  complete  protection.  .  .  .  The  heavy 
shells  from  an  enemy's  guns  may  do  many  other  forms  of  injury  besides  sinking  a  vessel  and  dis- 
abling her  crew.  They  may  strike  and  disable  her  engines,  or  pierce  her  boilers,  causing  disas- 
trous explosions.  They  may  injure  her  steering-gear,  destroy  the  mechanism  which  controls  her 
turrets  and  guns,  or  injure  the  guns  themselves  and  their  carriages.  In  every  feature  of  offense 
which  renders  her  a  formidable  and  dangerous  foe  —  her  speed,  her  mobility,  the  fire  of  her 
guns  —  a  man-of-war  is  dangerously  vulnerable  unless  she  be  protected  by  armor,  unless  the 
enemy's  shot  be  rejected  by  plates  which  it  cannot  penetrate. 

Then  came  an  invention  that  put  a  new  face  upon  the  matter, —  the 
surface-hardening  of  plates,  composed  of  a  mixture  of  nickel  with  steel, — 
which,  from  one  of  its  perfectors,  is  known  as  "  Harveyizing  "  it.  Other 
processes  also  are  known.  This  gave  to  the  surface  of  the  metal  such  a 
flinty  hardness  that  the  heaviest  and  most  highly  tempered  steel  projectiles 
would  almost  invariably  break  to  pieces  when  they  struck  it — the  same 
projectiles  that  were  able  to  punch  a  hole  clear  through  a  target-plate  of 
ordinary  wrought-steel  twenty-two  inches  thick ! 

Plates  thus  surface-hardened  are  now  made  in  Europe,  and  as  well,  if 
not  better,  in  the  United  States,  where  we  have  learned  and  taught  the  rest 
of  the  world  how  to  make  them  by  rolling  —  a  much  better,  as  well  as 
cheaper,  process  than  the  former  method  of  hammering  them  into  shape. 

It  was  found  that  with  these  hard-surfaced  plates  much  less  thickness 
was  required  to  contend  successfully  with  the  great  guns  opposed  to  them 
than  had  been  the  case  before ;  and  the  great  saving  of  weight  enabled  a 
much  larger  extent  of  armor  to  be  borne  upon  a  ship  than  was  formerly 
possible,  so  arranged  as  to  protect  all  her  hull  and  vital  parts. 

Thus,  in  a  typical  modern  battle-ship,  say  360  feet  long,  72  feet  broad, 
and  drawing  24  feet  of  water,  having  an  armor  of  surface-hardened  nickel- 
steel,  this  armor  is  thus  disposed:  amidships,  and  a  quarter  of  her  length 
behind  the  point  of  the  prow,  is  built  up  a  semicircular  "barbette,"  or  wall, 
of  the  thickest  armor,  behind  which  is  a  **  turret,"  moving  to  the  right  or 
left  through  an  arc  equal  to  half  the  horizon,  no  higher  than  necessary  to 
cover  and  work  the  guns,  and  having  its  motor  mechanism  fully  protected 
by  the  barbette.  This  is  the  forward  turret  —  a  swinging  fort,  carrying 
with  it,  as  it  turns,  two  of  the  heaviest  guns  in  the  ship. 

Half-way  from  the  center  to  the  stern  stands  the  after  turret  and  its 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATtLES  1 45 

barbette,  similarly  built  of  the  strongest  armor, —  ten  to  twelve  inches 
thick, —  and  sweeping  with  its  guns  half  the  horizon. 

From  a  point  just  in  front  of  the  forward  barbette  two  walls  of  the  heavi- 
est possible  armor,  reaching  vertically  from  four  and  a  half  feet  below  the 
water-line  (loaded)  to  three  feet  above  it,  extend  diagonally  backward  to 
the  sides  of  the  ship,  then  continue  along  its  side  in  a  "belt"  to  points  op- 
posite the  after  barbette,  where  they  bend  inward  as  before  and  meet  just  aft 
of  the  after  barbette  ;  but  hereafter  the  increased  efficiency  of  armor,  by  fur- 
ther reducing  its  weight,  will  probably  enable  the  armor-belts  to  be  carried 
to  the  extreme  ends  of  the  ship,  which  otherwise  can  be  so  seriously  dam- 
aged by  an  enemy  as  to  interfere  with  the  speed  and  control  of  a  ship 
in  action,  even  if  it  does  not  disable  her. 

But  while  these  upright  walls  will  resist  a  direct  shot,  it  is  equally 
necessary  to  guard  against  a  plunging  fire,  and  therefore  the  space  between 
the  turrets,  at  least,  must  be  roofed  over  with  a  steel  deck,  two  or  three 
inches  thick,  to  deflect  shot  that  come  just  over  the  top  of  the  armor-belt. 

In  addition  to  this,  on  each  side  of  the  vessel  are  erected  one  or  two 
smaller  turrets,  carrying  somewhat  smaller  guns  than  those  of  the  forward 
and  after  turrets,  and  also  protected  by  heavy  barbettes  which  reach  down 
to  the  armor-belt  and  thoroughly  protect  the  turning  mechanism,  passage 
of  ammunition,  etc.  These  various  upper  parts  are  connected  by  defenses 
which  may  not  resist  the  largest  shells,  but  are  safe  against  smaller  shot. 

Now,  what  is  the  armament  of  this  fortress  which  thus  protects  all  the 
motive  power  and  interior  machinery  of  the  ship,  by  which  she  can  be  made 
so  terrible  an  engine  of  combative  force  ?  Well,  it  is  as  different  from  the 
bronze  "long-toms"  and  carronades  of  the  old  three-deckers,  or  even  from 
ten-inch  smooth-bore  "  Dahlgrens  "  of  the  days  of  our  Civil  War,  as  is  the 
ship  itself  from  old-time  models.  In  place  of  broadside  batteries  of  forty  or 
fifty  cannon  hidden  in  clouds  of  smoke,  there  are  now  six  or  eight  big  rifles, 
from  whose  muzzles  wreaths  of  thin  gas  only  drift  to  leeward ;  and,  more 
striking  still,  in  contrast,  a  ship  is  no  longer  comparatively  helpless  when 
headed  or  turned  sternward  to  an  enemy, —  when  the  "raking,"  formerly 
so  justly  dreaded,  would  be  received, — but  is  rather  more  able  to  do  damage 
in  that  position  than  by  a  "broadside." 

The  guns  themselves  are  marvels  of  structure  and  power.  All  of  those 
used  in  the  United  States  navy  are  made  by  the  government  in  the  gun- 
shops  at  the  Washington  navy-yard,  and  are  "  built  up."  The  methods 
and  tools  required  for  this  are  the  invention  of  Americans,  as  well  as  the 
complicated  arrangements  for  closing  the  breech,  and  the  carriages  and 
mechanism  for  overcoming  the  tremendous  recoil  and  handling  the  ponder- 


146 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


ous  ammunition ;  the  latter,  often  weighing  hundreds  of  pounds,  is  handed 
up  to  the  gunners  from  the  magazines  below  by  hoists  worked  by  electricity. 

The  history  of  the  development  of  heavy  ordnance,  especially  that  ap- 
plied to  naval  uses,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  mechanics ; 
and  a  surprising  number  of  ways  of  making  a  ship's  cannon  have  been 
tried  and  rejected.  Out  of  this  two  things  seem  now  to  be  settled  :  namely, 
that  a  gun  composed  of  steel  in  separate  parts  welded  together  is  best,  and 
that  the  best  missile  to  shoot  from  it  is  a  conical  shell,  very  hard  and  heavy, 
yet  containing  an  explosive  small  in  quantity  but  exceedingly  powerful. 

Such  guns  are  built  up  of  a  tube  or  "  core  "  of  steel  of  the  required  size, 
upon  which  is  shrunk  a  jacket,  covering  the  rear,  or  breech  half  of  the  core, 
outside  of  which  are  shrunk  on  several  broad  hoops.  The  cutting  out  of 
the  bore  to  exactly  the  proper  caliber  and  the  plowing  of  the  spiral  riflings 


THE   UNITED   STATES   CRUISER   "BROOKLYN"   (STERN   VIEW). 


put  the  gun  in  readiness  for  its  breech-closing  and  other  attachments.  This 
process  requires  several  months,  involves  large  capital  and  powerful 
machinery,  and    good    results    imply  the    very    highest    workmanship. 

Such  are  the  guns  of  modern  men-of-war;  and  a  first-class  battle-ship 
carries  four  twelve-  or  thirteen-inch  rifles  (that  is,  having  a  bore  twelve  or 
thirteen    inches    in  diameter),  several  eight-    or    ten-inch  rifles,  and  many 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


147 


smaller  guns  arranged  to  be  fired  with  extraordinary  speed,  and  hence  called 
"rapid-fire"  guns;  while  her  upper  works  and  "  military  tops"  fairly  bristle 
with  fierce  little  six-,  four-,  and  one-pounders, —  revolving  magazine  rifles, 
capable  of  discharging  rifle-balls  as  fast  as  a  man  can  turn  the  crank. 


ON   BOARD   A   BATTLE-SHIP   GOING   INTO   ACTION.      WORKING  THE   RAPID-FIRE   GUNS. 


To  give  some  idea  of  the  size  and  power  of  one  of  the  13-inch  guns, 
whose  long  muzzles,  in  pairs,  project  so  far  out  of  the  turrets  that  hide  their 
mountings  and  firing-crew,  let  me  tell  you  that  it  is  40  feet  long,  more  than 
4  feet  in  diameter,  and  weighs  605^  tons.  "  It  requires  550  pounds  of 
powder  to  load  it,  and  the  projectile  weighs  half  a  ton.  The  muzzle-velocity 
of  the  projectile  is  2100  feet  per  second,  with  the  stated  charge,  and  its 
energy  is  sufficient  to  send  it  through  26  inches  of  steel  at  a  distance  of 
600  yards.  At  an  elevation  of  40  degrees  the  range  of  the  gun  will  be 
not  far  from    15  miles." 

In  such  a  ship,  deep  down  within  the  fortress  is  the  massive  and 
complicated  machinery,  steam  and  electric,  upon  which  the  life  and  activity 
of  the  whole  structure  depend.     The  power  is  generated  in  four  enormous 


148  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

boilers,  seventeen  feet  in  diameter  and  twenty  in  length,  their  steel  shells 
one  and  a  half  inches  thick,  built  to  carry  a  working-pressure  of  160  pounds 
to  the  square  inch.  Each  pair  of  these  boilers,  placed  fore  and  aft  and 
side  by  side,  is  installed  in  a  separate  compartment,  with  fire-rooms  at  the 
ends.  Every  boiler  has  four  furnaces  in  each  end,  which  give  eight  to  each 
fire-room,  or  a  total  of  thirty-two.  The  two  boiler  compartments  are  sep- 
arated by  a  water-tight  bulkhead,  and  by  a  deep,  broad  coal-bunker.  At 
the  sides  of  the  ship  are  also  coal-bunkers,  which  supplement  the  heavy 
armor-belt  by  the  protection  of  a  mass  of  coal  twelve  feet  in  thickness  —  in 
itself  a  not  inconsiderable  earthwork,  which  might  arrest  the  fragments  of  a 
bursting  shell  that  had  succeeded  in  piercing  the  armor.  No  casualty  of 
naval  combat  can  be  worse  than  the  penetration  of  high-pressure  boilers  by 
heavy  shells.  Their  complete  protection  is  an  imperative  condition,  quite 
as  important  as  the  protection  of  the  magazines. 

Such  is  a  modern  battle-ship  —  a  "wonderful  and  complex  instrument 
of  warfare,"  as  Lieutenant  Staunton  has  expressed  it. 

She  is  filled  [he  tells  us]  with  powerful  agencies,  all  obedient  to  the  control  of  man  —  the 
creatures  of  his  brain  and  the  servants  of  his  will.  Steam  in  its  simple  application  drives  her 
main  engines  and  many  auxiliaries.  Steam  transformed  into  hydraulic  power  moves  her  steer- 
ing-gear and  turns  her  turrets.  Steam  converted  into  electrical  energy  produces  her  incandescent 
and  search-lights,  works  small  motors  in  remote  places,  and  fires  her  guns  when  desired.  Every 
application  of  energy,  every  device  of  mechanism,  finds  its  office  somewhere  in  that  vast  hull, 
and  the  source  of  all  the  varied  forms  of  power  lies  in  the  great  boilers,  far  down  below  danger 
of  shot  and  shell,  under  which  grimy  stokers  are  always  shoveling  coal.  Decades  of  thought 
and  study,  experiment  and  failure,  trial  again  with  partial  success,  and  repeated  trials  with 
complete  success,  have  assigned  to  each  agency  its  appropriate  function,  and  perfected  the 
mechanism    through   which  its  work  is  performed. 

These  modern  developments  have  added  one  entirely  novel  and  tremen- 
dous adjunct  to  the  fleet,  in  the  torpedo-boat  and  its  terrible  weapon.  These 
take  the  place  to  some  extent  of  the  fire-ship  of  a  century  ago,  which  was 
designed  to  injure  the  enemy  not  by  silencing  his  guns  or  overcoming  his 
gunners,  but  by  insidiously  destroying  his  ship  itself. 

The  torpedo  is,  in  its  simplest  form,  simply  some  arrangement  of  a  power- 
ful explosive  to  be  set  off  beneath  or  against  the  bottom  of  a  ship,  and 
shatter  or  sink  it.  The  idea  is  as  old  as  gunpowder,  but  it  is  only  in  recent 
times  that  it  has  been  made  effective, —  how  effective  we  do  not  yet  know. 

Torpedoes  are  used  in  two  ways :  one  is  by  fixing  the  torpedo  beneath 
the  water,  either  to  be  exploded  by  means  of  a  percussion-cap  when  the 
ship  runs  against  it,  or  from  the  shore  by  means  of  electricity.  Such  ar- 
rangements as  this,  called  submarine  mines,  are  regarded  as  a  most  impor- 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


149 


tant  means  of  defending  harbors  against  hostile  attack.  During  our  Civil 
War  they  were  extensively  used  by  the  Confederates,  and  were  sometimes 
successful,  as  when  one  destroyed  the  monitor  Tecumseh  in  Mobile  harbor, 
during  Farragut's  famous  attack  there  in  1864. 

The    former    class,    for   which    the     word    torpedoes    is    now    reserved, 
includes  explosive  agents  which  are  to  be  placed  or  sent  against  a  ship's 


\2^/i://i'J'il^ 


THE  MONITOR   "TECUMSEH"   SUNK  BY   A  TORPEDO    AT   MOBILE,   i864. 


bottom  at  sea  and  exploded  there.  Various  devices  of  that  kind,  also,  have 
been  used  for  a  long  time  in  naval  warfare.  The  Confederates  tried  hard 
to  destroy  several  Northern  vessels  in  the  blockading  squadron  by  devising 
very  small,  half-submerged  boats,  towing  torpedoes  astern,  or  else  projecting 
on  a  long  spar  from  their  bows ;  and  now  and  then  they  succeeded,  as  when 
one  of  the  latter  kind  was  made  to  sink  the  Housatonic  off  Charleston. 

Then  there  have  been  invented,  during  the  past  fifty  years,  several 
cigar-shaped  machines,  which,  by  means  of  a  chemical  or  compressed-air 
engine  or  clockwork,  or  some  other  application  of  power  that  might  keep 
motive  machinery  within  them  going  long  enough,  could  be  launched  from 
shore  or  from  another  vessel  and  sent  under  water  against  a  hostile  ship. 
At  first  these  were  made  to  glide  along  just  beneath  the  surface,  carrying 
little  flags  that  could  be  seen,  and  trailing  two  electric  wires,  enabling  a 


I50 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


THE   SEARCH-LIGHT  REVEALING  THE  TORPEDO-BOAT. 


person,  by  means  of 
electric  currents,  to 
direct  their  flight  ; 
but  latterly  ingenuity 
has  devised  such  an 
arrangement  of  rud- 
ders and  self-acting 
balances  within  the 
torpedo's  mechanism 
that  it  will  continue 
perfectly  straight  upon 
the  course  it  is  aimed 
for,  swerving  neither 
right  nor  left,  up  nor 
down,  and  will  explode 
the  instant  it  touches 

an  object  hard  enough  to  jar  the  delicate  cap  of  fulminate  in  its  snout. 

This  latter  kind,  called  the  automobile  (self-moving)  torpedo,  is  now  almost 

exclusively  used,  and  some  modification  of  the  Whitehead  is  most  popular. 

It    is    cigar-shaped,    and    about 

twelve  feet  in  length  ;  the  forward 

third  is  filled  with  gun-cotton —  ^^K^ 

in  quantity  sufficiently  powerful, 

if  accurately  applied,  to  ruin  al- 
most instantly  the  greatest  bat- 
tle-ship afloat. 

All  large  war- ships  are  now 

fitted   with   tubes,   opening   near 

the   water-line    in    various    parts 

of  the  hull,  which  form  gun-like 

exits  for  these  terrible  weapons, 

which  are  set  in  motion  by  a  puff 

of  gunpowder  ;  but  in  addition  to 

tliis  every  maritime  government 

now  has  a  number  (Great  Britain 

has  more  than  250)  of  small,  swift 

steamers  designed  wholly  for  this 

purpose  and  called  torpedo-boats.  --^_-''-.'. 

Most  of  them  are  a  hundred  feet  _  ^  ^     ,^„  „,.„ 

A   SELF-MOVING   TORPEDO   ON   ITS   WAY 

or  so  in  length,  and  intended  to  to  attack  a  man-of-war. 


WAR-SHIPS    AND    NAVAL    BATTLES 


151 


accompany  the  fleet  wherever  it  goes  and  in  all  weathers ;  but  some  are  so 
small  that  they  may  be  carried  on  the  deck  of  a  big  cruiser. 

All  are  made  long,  low,  and  narrow,  and  the  speed  of  many  of  them 
exceeds  thirty  miles  an  hour.  There  is  almost  nothing  to  catch  the  wind 
or  show  above  deck  except  a  pair  of  short,  flattened  smoke-stacks,  one 
behind  the  other  ;  and  the  steersman  stands,  with  only  his  head  and 
shoulders  visible,  in  a  little  box  with  windows  that  serves  the  purpose  of  a 


A   TORPEDO-BOAT   AT   FULL   SPEED. 


wheel-house.  A  mere  wire  railing  saves  the  crew  from  sliding  off  the  deck, 
and  in  action  everybody  stays  below.  No  weight  is  carried  that  can  be 
avoided,  and  the  engines,  taking  steam  from  two  boilers,  are  as  powerful 
as  can  be  packed  into  the  space  at  command.  Usually  only  coal  enough 
for  a  few  hours'  steaming  is  carried,  and  every  bushel  of  it  is  carefully 
selected  as  to  quality,  and  is  so  treated  and  intelligently  fed  to  the  furnaces 
as  to  make  the  hottest  possible  fire,  although  never  a  spark  must  escape 
from  the  smoke-stack  to  betray  the  vessel  in  the  darkness. 

Next  to  speed  the  most  important  quality  is  ability  to  turn  quickly,  upon 
which  might  often  depend  the  safety  of  the  audacious  little  craft. 

Torpedo-boats,  however,  are  designed  for  a  wider  service  than  simply  to 


152 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


carry  and  discharge  the  frightful  weapon  from  which  they  take  their  name. 
They  are  to  the  navy  what  scouts  and  skirmishers  are  to  a  land  army. 
They  form  the  cavalry  of  the  sea,  of  which  the  cruisers  are  the  infantry, 
and  the  battle-ships  and  monitors  the  artillery  arm.  They  must  spy  out 
the  position  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  hover  about  his  flanks  or  haunt  his 
anchorage  to  ascertain  what  he  is  about  and  what  he  means  to  do  next. 
They  must  act  as  the  pickets  of  their  own  fleet,  patrolling  the  neighbor- 
hood, or  waiting  and  watching,  concealed  among  islands  or  in  inlets  and 
river-mouths,  ready  to  hasten  away  to  the  admiral  with  warning  of  any 
movement  of  the  adversary. 

It  is  not  their  business  to  fight  (except  rarely,  in  the  one  particular  way), 
but  rather  to  pry  and  sneak  and  run,  for  the  benefit  of  the  fleet  they  serve. 

But  to  insure  all  these  fine 
results,  both  officers  and  men 
must  be  taught  the  art.  Con- 
stant instruction  and  drilling 
are  necessary,  and  in  each  navy 
a  regular  school  of  torpedo- 
practice  is  maintained,  where 
the  subject  is  studied  in  every 
way.  In  the  United  States 
such  a  school  is  kept  at  the 
Newport  (R.  I.)  Torpedo  Sta- 
tion, where  the  torpedoes  them- 
selves are  fitted  for  use  and  sup- 
plied to  the  ships  (the  loaded  war-heads  are  kept  separately  in  the  ship's  maga- 
zine), and  where  one  or  more  torpedo-boats  are  reserved  for  drilling  purposes. 
But  a  worse  and  more  insidious  foe  than  even  these  sneaking,  hiding, 
surface  torpedo-boats  threatens  us  in  the  submarine  torpedo-boat,  which 
inventors  have  been  experimenting  with  since  naval  warfare  first  began. 
It  is  said  that  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago  divers  were  lowered  into  the 
water  in  a  simply  constructed  air-box,  to  perforate  the  wooden  bottom  of 
an  adversary's  war-galley  and  sink  it.  Again,  in  our  Revolutionary  War,  a 
tin\-  walnut- shaped  boat  was  made  by  an  American,  which  was  actually 
tried.  It  would  hold  one  man,  and  air  enough  for  him  to  breathe  for  half  an 
hour.  He  would  close  the  hatch,  let  in  enough  water  to  sink  him  a  little 
wa)-,  and  then  scull  himself  along  by  means  of  a  screw-bladed  stern-oar 
until  he  got  underneath  the  keel  of  an  anchored  vessel,  to  which,  by  ingenious 
means,  he  would  attach  a  can  of  gunpowder  to  be  fired  by  clockwork,  giving 
him  time  to  get  away.      It  was  actually  tried  and  nearly  succeeded.     Robert 


ONE  FORM  OF  SUBMARINE  TORPEDO-BOAT. 


154 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Fulton,  who  made  the  first  success  of  the  steamboat, 
tried  for  years   to   contrive   a   submarine  boat  that 
would  work,  and  succeeded  so  far  as  to  scare  Brit- 
;  ^^w.;       '  j^***"^      ^^^^  blockaders  in  1812  very  badly  indeed;  and  the 
^^Pr  '  ^     Confederates  repeated   the   scare  when   the  North 

\  was  blockading  their  ports  in  the  Civil  War. 

y  The    great   advantage    of  a   submarine   boat  is,   of 

\  course,  its  invisibility,  and  its  safety  from  shot  even  if 
discovered  ;  but  \  the  difficulties  of  progress  and  control  as  to  depth 
and  direction  under  \  water,  and  at  the  same  time  effective  appliance 
of  the  explosive  and  \  safe  retreat,  are  so  many  that  they  have  as  yet 
been  only  partly  over-  \  come.  If  the  thing  is  ever  accomplished, 
naval  warfare  will  be  de-  \  moralized  until  some  adequate  means  be 
found  to  combat  thisunseen,      \      destroying  agency. 

The    principal    agent    in     \      submarine    attacks    would    probably    be 

inhuman  as  its  use  seems,  is  slowly  but 
the    weapons    of   war.     The    United 


\ 


some  form  of  dynamite,  which, 
surely   taking   its   place   among 
States    has    one   vessel   primarily      \ 
hurling    it    in    the    form    of  shells.      \ 
J\'S7cz'ijts,  and  is  a  small,  swift  ves- 
ward    through    her   forward    deck,   as 

These  tubes  are  the  muzzles  of  great 
sends  darts  loaded  with  dynamite 
ship  or  fort.     It  would  not  be  safe,  to 
such  bombs  with  gunpowder;   and 
and  engines  in  her  interior  compress 
acquired   an   expansive   force   suffi- 
purpose.     When    one    of  the   darts 
laid  in  the  breech  of  the  tube,  down 
the  deck,  and  suitably  closed  in,  a  valve 
is  opened,  the  compressed  air  acts  like 
burning    powder,    and    away    goes    the 
dart,  in  a  graceful  curve  to  its  target.     In 
this  case,  of  course,  it  is  the  vessel  rather 
than  the  immovable  gun  that  is  aimed,  and 
good   marksmanship   depends   upon    accu- 
rate calculation  of  distance  ;  but  remarkable 
shooting   has  been  done.      This  system  has 
never  yet  been  tried  in  actual  warfare,  and  may 
prove  valuable  chiefly  in  clearing  harbors  of  mines 


designed    to    employ    dynamite    by 
This  volcanic  craft  is  suitably  named 
y     sel  having  long  tubes  slanting  up- 
shown  in  the  illustration, 
air-guns,    through    which   she 
to  fall  upon  a  hostile 
say  the  least,  to  fire 
therefore    pumps 
air  until  it  has 
cient  for  1' 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA 

HE  history  of  shipping  in  an  earlier  chapter  will  also  answer 
as  a  history  of  early  international  commerce.  It  began  with 
the  Egyptians  and  Phenicians,  and  was  confined  to  their 
parts  of  the  Mediterranean  until  after  the  middle  ages,  when 
it  moved  steadily  to  the  western  borders  of  Europe. 
How  great,  rich,  and  influential  were  Tyre  and  its  people  we  have  al- 
ready seen.  A  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era  they  controlled  the 
commerce  of  the  ancient  world  by  reason  of  their  wisdom  as  traders  and 
their  skill  and  energy  as  navigators  and  seamen.  Turn  to  the  twenty- 
seventh  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  and  see  how  the  Phenician  metropolis  was  re- 
garded, even  in  the  time  of  that  prophet,  six  hundred  years  before  Christ. 
These  Syrians  had  gradually  extended  their  commerce  until  it  took  in  the 
whole  known  world;  and  by  their  caravans  to  and  from  the  interior  of 
Arabia,  Persia,  India,  and  the  Soudan,  by  their  trains  (perhaps  of  pack- 
horses)  across  Europe,  by  their  marine  expeditions  to  the  Nile, — which  they 
forced  open  to  trade,  for  ancient  Egypt  was  much  like  China  in  its  exclu- 
siveness, —  and  by  their  ships  to  all  the  Mediterranean  ports,  and  up  and 
down  the  Atlantic  coast,  they  gathered  and  exchanged  in  the  bazaars  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon  the  products,  manufactures,  and  luxuries  of  every  country 
that  had  anything  to  sell.  To  the  Phenicians,  indeed,  was  ascribed,  by  the 
Latin  and  Greek  writers  of  a  few  centuries  later,  the  invention  of  naviga- 
tion ;  and  even  when  Phenicia  had  become  of  little  account  as  a  nation,  its 
conquerors  noted  with  admiration  the  skill  of  the  men  of  that  coast  in  sea- 
manship. "They  steered  by  the  pole-star,  which  the  Greeks  therefore 
called  the  Phenician  star ;  and  all  their  vessels,  from  the  common  round 
gaulos  to  the  great  Tarshish  ships, —  the  East-Indiamen,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
ancient  world, —  had  a  speed  which  the  Greeks  never  rivaled." 

Later,  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  supremacy,  the  trading-ships  were  as 
important  to  the  country  as  its  soldiers,  for  nearly  every  free  man  was  in 


156  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

the  army,  and  the  slaves  made  poor  farmers.  A  large  part  of  the  grain, 
as  well  as  cattle,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  people,  had  to  be  brought  from 
Egypt,  which  was  pretty  sure  to  have  "corn,"  as  the  Bible  calls  it,  when  the 
rest  of  the  world  was  suffering  from  short  crops.  Egypt  supplied  grain  to 
Rome  during  the  second  Punic  war,  thus  enabling  her  to  resist  the  invasion 
of  Carthage,  and  it  is  possible  that  Rome's  later  political  alliance  with 
Egypt  was  largely  due  to  her  interest  in  Egyptian  crops.  Large  fleets  of 
grain-ships,  convoyed  by  armed  vessels,  were  continually  passing  between 
the  African  coast  and  the  Tiber,  and  so  many  were  the  risks  they  ran  of 
wreck  or  capture,  that  the  arrival  of  a  flotilla  with  its  precious  freight  of  food 
was  always  a  cause  of  rejoicing,  at  any  rate,  among  the  poor. 

These  merchant  ships  of  classical  times  were  broader  and  heavier  than  the 
war- galleys,  and  although  they  carried  a  few  oars  to  help  themselves  in  a 
difficulty,  they  ordinarily  moved  by  means  of  sails,  probably  lugs.  One  of 
the  grain-ships  plying  between  Egypt  and  Italy  about  150  a.  d.,  according 
to  Lucian.  was  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  slightly  more  than  one 
fourth  as  broad,  and  forty-three  and  a  half  feet  deep  inside, —  more  like  a 
barge  than  a  "  ship."  The  largest  used  in  this  trade  would  carry  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  tons.  The  transports  that  accompanied  one  of  Justinian's 
fleets,  A.  1).  533,  are  stated  to  have  carried  one  hundred  and  sixty  to  two 
hundred  tons  of  supplies  each. 

These  Roman  vessels  were  made  of  pine,  and  were  coated  with  a  corfi- 
position  of  tar  and  wax,  then  painted,  often  with  elaborate  decorations  in 
bright  colors,  with  pigments  mixed  with  melted  wax.  Now  and  then  one 
was  built  of  truly  vast  proportions,  as  that  one  which  brought  from  Egypt 
to  Rome  the  first  of  the  stolen  obelisks. 

With  that  grand  awakening  of  interest  in  education,  industry,  and  dis- 
covery which  took  place  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  city  of  Venice  gained 
the  lead  in  power,  and  her  merchants  became  the  most  enterprising  and 
wealthy.  It  was  the  expansion  of  commerce  that  urged  the  explorations 
that  marked  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  for  by  this  time  Venice 
had  lier  banks — the  first  in  the  world  to  approach  the  character  of  modern 
banks — and  her  exchange  on  the  famous  Rialto  bridge  ;  Genoa  was  in 
close  rivalry  ;  Spain  was  gathering  immense  quantities  of  gold  in  South 
America ;  and  England  was  coming  to  the  front  as  a  maritime  power. 
The  trade  with  Cathay — as  India,  China,  and  the  Oriental  islands  were 
called  collectively — was  chiefly  by  caravans  across  the  Persian  deserts,  and 
Spain,  England,  and  Holland  had  small  shares  in  it,  since  the  only  water- 
route  known  was  through  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  seas,  where,  be- 
tween  the  perils  of  the  ocean,  the  extortionate  charges  and  stealings  of 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA 


157 


the  Arabs  (who  carried  the  cargoes  from  vessel  to  vessel  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Suez),  and  the  risk  of  capture  by  Algerian  pirates,  there  was 
little  chance  left  for  profit  to  either  merchants  or  ship-owners. 

To  western  Europe,  then,  Vasco  de  Gama's  discovery  of  the  route 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  a  long  advantage,  and  England  and 
Holland  at  least  were  quick  to 
seize  it.  The  great  "East  In- 
dia Companies  "  of  the  Dutch 
and  English  were  formed  by 
a  group  of  powerful  merchants 
in  London  and  in  Amsterdam, 
who  were  given  vast  privileges 
by  their  governments  in  re- 
spect to  trading  in  the  East. 
The  Dutch  company  was  not 
founded  until  1602,  two  years 
after  the  English  company,  but 
it  soon  became  the  more  prom- 
inent of  the  two,  and  was  one 
of  the  principal  means  by 
which  the  Netherlands  se- 
cured the  preponderance  of 
the  carrying  trade  of  the 
world,  bringing  to  her  ports, 
by  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  almost  all  the 
commerce  previously  enjoyed 
by  Cadiz,  Lisbon,  and  Ant- 
werp, and  making  very  serious 
inroads  upon  that  of  London 
and  Bristol.  The  Dutch  East 
India  ships,   copied   from   the 

Genoese  carracks,  were  the  biggest  merchant  vessels  then  afloat,  well  able 
to  cope  with  many  of  the  war-ships ;  and  two  hundred  of  them  were  at  this 
time  engaged  in  the  Asiatic  trade  alone. 

It  was  in  aid  of  the  English  rival  company  not  only,  but  as  an  attempt 
to  save  and  revive  the  commercial  position  of  England  generally,  that 
Cromwell's  "navigation  laws"  were  enacted,  prohibiting  the  carriage  of 
goods  to  or  from  British  shores  except  in  ships  owned  and  manned  by 
Englishmen, —  laws  that  were  aimed  directly  at  the  Dutch,  and  led  to  the 


A   CAPTAIN   IN   THE   MERCHANT   MARINE. 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


A   CLIPPER   ESCAPING  FROM   THE  "ALABAMA." 


long-  wars  of  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  These  were  called 
wars  for  the  supremacy  of  the  sea,  but  actually  they  were  a  prolonged  strug- 
gle for  the  biggest  share  of  the  world's  trade,  which  is  the  only  real  value 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA  1 59 

of  the  "supremacy  of  the  sea."     It  is  a  saying  that  "trade  follows  the  flag," 
and  so  it  does;  but  at  the  beginning  the  flag  goes  were  the  trade  is  to  be  had. 

These  companies  were  so  mixed  up  in  the  politics  of  their  respective 
governments  that  it  would  be  a  long  task,  although  entertaining,  to  trace 
their  growth,  which  is  really  that  of  western  civilization  in  the  East. 
They  equipped  fleets  of  merchant  and  war  vessels,  established  forts,  car- 
ried on  small  wars  along  the  Oriental  coasts,  and  were  really  little  king- 
doms within  kingdoms,  because  of  their  wide  monopoly,  enormous  wealth, 
and  the  national  importance  of  all  their  enterprises.  The  final  result  was 
that,  as  Great  Britain  finally  overcame  the  Dutch  and  French  at  home,  so  her 
East  India  Company  ousted  them  from  India;  but  it  was  not  until  1858  that 
old  "John  Company,"  which  had  come  to  be  regarded  by  the  natives  of 
India  as  the  government  itself,  was  dissolved,  and  resigned  its  territories  to 
the  crown  and  a  system  of  trade  open  to  all  the  world. 

Those  were  slow  and  costly  times  compared  with  the  present,  though 
seeming  to  us  full  of  a  romance  impossible  now.  A  voyage  around  the 
world  occupied  three  years,  and  to  go  from  London  to  Calcutta  and  back  took 
from  New  Year's  to  Christmas  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 
Another  important  change,  too,  has  gradually  come  about.  Formerly,  the 
vessels  were  owned  almost  entirely  by  the  merchants  themselves,  or  by  a. 
company  of  them ;  they  paid  all  a  ship's  expenses,  and  put  into  her  a  cargo 
of  their  own  wares.  They  would  send  to  China,  for  instance,  cotton  goods, 
household  furniture,  hatchets,  tools,  cutlery  and  other  hardware,  farming 
implements,  and  fancy  goods  of  all  sorts.  In  return  the  vessels  would  bring 
silks,  tea,  and  porcelain,  which  would  go  into  the  owners'  warehouses  and 
be  sold  in  their  own  shops.     Shipper,  importer,  and  merchant  were  all  one. 

Now  this  is  changed.  The  importers  and  merchants  of  London,  Ham- 
burg, and  New  York  are  not  often  those  who  own  vessels  and  bring  their 
own  goods.  Instead  of  this  they  have  agents,  who  live  permanently  in  each 
of  the  foreign  ports,  where  they  buy  the  merchandise  they  want  and  hire 
a  vessel,  or  the  needed  space  in  a  vessel,  belonging  to  somebody  else  to 
bring  them  home.  By  the  old  way,  the  nation  which  had  anything  to  sell 
carried  it  to  the  nation  that  would  buy  it,  and  brought  back  the  best  thing  it 
could  get  in  exchange ;  now  the  merchants  go  to  various  parts  of  the  world, 
buy  their  cargoes,  and  order  them  sent  home,  in  substantially  the  same  way 
as  you  go  a-shopping  in  town. 

This  has  brought  out  a  new  department  of  sea-labor,  unknown,  as  a 
class,  a  century  ago  —  the  business  of  carrying  goods  which  the  owners  of 
the  vessels  have  no  property  in.  In  London,  New  York,  Hamburg,  and  all 
other  seaboard  cities  of  this  and  other  countries,  the  great  majority  of  the 


i6o 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


shipping  is  owned,  not  by  the  merchants  of  the  city,  but  by  "  transportation 
companies,"  who  agree  to  carry  cargoes  at  a  certain  rate. 

Merchant  vessels  may  be  divided  into  three  classes,  of  which  the  first 
includes  steamships  and  sailing-vessels  planned  primarily  for  freight  trans- 


THE   SALOON   OF   A   SAILING   PACKET-SHIP,  ABOUT   1840. 


portation,  which  run  back  and  forth  between  certain  ports,  and  so  constitute 
"  lines  "  for  freight.  Such  lines  exist  along  even  the  remotest  coasts,  so  that 
goods  may  be  shipped  directly,  or  by  a  single  transfer,  from  any  given  sea- 
port to  almost  any  other  in  the  world.  Some  of  these  lines,  sailing  be- 
tween certain  ports,  are  devoted  to  particular  uses,  such  as  those  of  oil- 
steamers  and  catde-steamers.  The  oil-steamers  run  between  America  and 
Europe  with  American  petroleum,  and  in  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean with  oil  from  Russia ;  the  entire  holds  are  divided  into  vast  iron 
tanks  for  this  liquid,  which  is  poured  into  and  pumped  out  of  them  as  into 
and  out  of  a  great  barrel.  The  cattle-steamers  are  specially  arranged  for 
the  transportation  of  live  stock,  but  one  line,  running  between  America  and 
England,  also  carries  passengers  at  a  cheap  rate.  The  second  class  of  ves- 
sels consists  of  those  which  make  the  transportation  of  passengers  their  first 
ol^ject.  loading  their  holds  with  first-class  freight,  for  which  high  rates  are 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA 


l6l 


paid  in  consideration  of  its  swift  delivery.  The  third  class  includes  what  are 
known  as  "tramp"  steamers,  which  run  irregularly,  as  the  old  sailing- 
vessels  used  to  do,  picking  up  cargoes  wherever  they  find  them  and  carry- 
ing them  to  any  port.  They  are  often  of  great  size  and  power,  but  being 
under  less  close  supervision  are  often  less  careful  as  to  the  safety  of  crews 
and  cargoes,  and  are  sometimes  unseaworthy.  They  are  always  ready  to 
answer  any  sudden  demand  for  ships,  their  owners  keeping  watch  of  the 
chances  and  telegraphing  to  their  captains  where  to  go  for  their  next  car- 
goes. Without  the  submarine  telegraph  these  tramp  steamers  could 
scarcely  compete  with  the  regular  lines ;  but,  besides  the  great  transoceanic 
cables,  all  the  sea-coasts  are  now  festooned  with  electric  cables,  which  have  fre- 
quent stations  and  connect  the  important  ports  of  America  and  Europe  with 
those  of  Africa,  Persia,  India,  the  Spice  Islands,  Australia,  and  New  Zea- 
land, and  there  is  now  a  plan  to  run  a  cable  across  the  Pacific  between 
America  and  New  Zealand,  by  way  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Samoa,  and  Fiji. 


A  CORNER  IN  THE   SALOON   OF   A   MODERN   STEAMSHIP. 


The  passenger-ship  is  a  distinctly  modern  feature  of  marine  carriage.  In 
former  days  the  few  persons  who  were  obliged  to  cross  the  seas  on  business 
errands,  and  the  fewer  who  went  abroad  for  health  or  pleasure  or  the  love 
of  travel,  had  to  accept  such  rough  accommodations  as  the  ordinary  mer- 
chant ships  afforded.  But  as  soon  as  the  East  and  West  Indies  were  added 
to  the  map  of  the  world,  and  colonies  of  Europeans  began  to  settle  on  dis- 


Ib2  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

tant  coasts  and  islands,  the  amount  of  travel  justified  owners  of  vessels 
in  enlarging  cabins  and  providing  comforts  likely  to  induce  patronage  of 
their  lines.  Even  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago  the  voyage  be- 
tween India  and  England  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  though  it  became 
somewhat  tedious,  because  it  lasted  six  or  seven  months,  was  by  no  means 
a  miserable  experience  in  a  well-found  ship.  Thus  Dr.  John  Fryer  has 
recorded  of  such  a  sea-journey  in  1682  that  "it  passed  away  merrily  with 
good  wine  and  no  bad  musick ;  but  the  life  of  all  good  company,  and  an 
honest  commander,  who  fed  us  with  fresh  provisions  of  turkies,  geese,  ducks, 
hens,  sucking-pigs,  sheep,  goats,  etc." 

A  century  later,  when  England  had  come  firmly  into  possession  of  India, 
and  thousands  of  her  officers,  troops,  and  traders,  with  their  families,  w^ere 
colonizing  her  ports,  there  were  demanded  the  largest  and  finest  ships  that 
could  be  built,  combining  accommodations  for  many  passengers  with  great 
cargo  capacity.  Such  were  the  great  East  Indiamen  ;  and  in  those  leisurely 
da\s  a  trip  half-way  round  the  world  on  one  of  these  roomy  old  vessels  was 
a  continuous  pleasure  to  almost  every  one  that  undertook  it. 

The  ship  was  a  bit  of  Old  England  afloat,  where  the  passenger  rented  for  so  many  months 
a  well-lighted,  roomy,  unfurnished  apartment,  which,  according  to  his  taste  and  means,  he  fitted 
up  for  the  voyage  with  numberless  comforts  and  sea  stores  that  none  but  a  yachtsman  would 
think  of  cumbering  himself  with  at  sea  to-day ;  and,  reading  narratives  of  the  old  long  sea- voy- 
ages, one  is  constantly  coming  across  expressions  of  regret  by  passengers  when  they  "took 
leave  of  the  good  ship  that  for  so  many  months  had  been  their  floating  home."  These  fine  old 
passenger  sailing-ships  were,  like  a  man-of-war,  entirely  dismantled  at  the  end  of  each  homeward 
\  oyage,  and  underwent  a  complete  overhaul  and  refit  before  starting  out  again  on  an  outward 
one.  Passengers  usually  sold  their  state-room  furniture  by  auction  on  board  the  ship  on  her 
arrival  in  port. 

Such  a  ship,  the  Atlantic  packets,  and  even  men-of-war  bound  on  a  long 
blockading  cruise,  did  not  hesitate  to  stow  aboard  all  the  live  stock  that  room 
could  be  found  for,  sometimes  by  comical  devices.  In  that  book  of  charming 
reminiscences  of  ways  and  means  afloat  before  the  days  of  quick  steam  tran- 
sit, "Old  Sea  Wings,"  Mr.  Leslie  has  a  chapter  which  he  calls  "The  Old 
Ship- Farm,"  where  one  may  learn  curious  particulars  of  this  matter. 

The  man  in  charge  of  this  part  of  the  stores  was  the  ship's  butcher,  and  he  had  as  "mate," 
or  assistant,  a  youth  of  all  work  known  to  all  sailors  as  "  Jemmy  Ducks."  Their  bam,  or 
storehouse,  was  especially  the  great  long-boat,  which  often  looked  more  like  a  model  of  Noah's 
ark  than  a  craft  serviceable  in  case  of  shipwreck. 

.Always  securely  stowed  amidships,  well  lashed  down  and  housed  over,  the  boat,  as  she  lay 
upon  the  ship's  deck,  was  full  of  live  provender,  being  divided,  as  to  her  lower  hold,  into  pens 
for  s'neep  and  pigs,  while  upon  the  first  floor,  or  main  deck,  quacked  ducks  and  geese,  and  above 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA  1 63 

them  (literally  in  the  cock-loft)  were  coops  for  another  kind  of  poultry.  This  great  central  dep6t 
was  closely  surrounded  by  other  small  farm-buildings,  the  most  important  being  the  cow- 
house, where,  after  a  short  run  ashore  on  the  marshes  at  the  end  of  each  voyage,  a  well-sea- 
soned animal  of  the  snug  Alderney  breed  chewed  the  cud  in  sweet  content.  In  fact,  when, 
in  the  old  days,  a  passenger-ship  began  her  voyage,  the  hull  of  her  clumsy  long-boat  was  nearly 
hidden  by  the  number  of  temporary  pens  and  sheds  required  to  house  the  live  stock  for  the  sup- 
ply of  her  cabin  table ;  and  with  its  many  farm-yard  and  homelike  sounds  a  ship  was,  even  then, 
more  like  a  small  bit  of  the  world  afloat  than  it  is  now. 


There  was  always  regular  traffic  between  America  and  Europe,  espe- 
cially with  Great  Britain,  and  the  rapid  growth  of  emigration  to  the  United 
States  and  Canada  made  it  profitable,  early  in  this  century,  to  put  on  fast- 
sailing  packet-ships,  making  voyages,  at  intervals  of  a  month,  between  Lon- 
don and  New  York.  By  1840  a  man  might  find  a  large,  well-ordered  ship 
departing  every  week  or  so  for  the  transatlantic  passage,  which  usually  re- 
quired less  than  a  month  going  east,  but  might  be  two  weeks  longer  coming 
west.  Their  cabins  were  as  comfortable  and  perhaps  more  homelike  than 
any  seen  now,  and  quite  as  pretty,  with  their  white  and  gold  paint,  cut-glass 
door  and  locker  knobs,  damask  hangings,  dimity  bed-curtains,  and  other 
old-fashioned  niceties ;  and  the  fare  was  abundant  and  varied,  as  it  ought  to 
be  in  a  neat  ship  with  a  small  dairy  aboard,  and  perhaps  a  green-salad  gar- 
den planted  in  the  jolly-boat.  None  of  these  packets  were  more  popular 
than  those  of  the  well-remembered  Black  Ball  Line. 

The  steerage  passengers  were  not  so  well  off"  then,  though  they  seemed 
to  stand  the  voyage  quite  as  well  as  nowadays.  The  fare  was  twenty-five 
dollars,  and  the  passenger  found  himself  "  in  everything  but  fire  and 
water."  "  Steerage  passengers  then  had  to  cook  their  own  victuals, 
weather  permitting,  at  an  open  galley-fire  on  the  waist-deck ;  .  .  .  but 
in  anything  like  rough  weather,  all  steerage  passengers  had  either  to 
run  the  chance  of  getting  constantly  wet  with  salt  water  or  keep  below." 
The  'tween-decks  space  allotted  to  them  was  almost  completely  filled  by 
rows  of  bunks,  built  in  each  port  by  the  ship's  carpenter,  in  three  tiers, 
one  above  the  other,  though  the  ceiling  was  scarcely  seven  feet  from 
the  floor;  and  when  in  a  stormy  time  the  hatches  were  closed  the  only 
way  the  crowd  could  find  room  was  by  most  of  it  stowing  itself  away 
in  the  bunks,  while  a  few  tried  to  sit  or  lie  on  the  luggage  piled  in 
the  narrow  aisles.  The  only  light  was  that  of  a  few  candle  or  whale- 
oil  lanterns,  and  in  a  very  bad  storm  everybody  came  near  smothering, 
for  then  it  was  impossible  to  ventilate  the  steerage  properly  without 
flooding  it.  Considering  that  all  the  provisions  for  the  steerage  people 
were  kept  in  this  crowded,  damp,  and  fearfully  close  room,  it  is  marvel- 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA  1 65 

ous  that  a  pestilence  did  not  break  out  during  every  voyage,  but,  in  fact, 
sickness-  was    rare. 

The  introduction  of  steam  into  oceanic  navigation  was  experimented 
with  as  soon  as  river  steamboats  were  successfully  built.  The  first  ves- 
sel to  go  across  the  ocean  by  the  aid  of  a  steam-engine  is  said  to 
have  been  the  Savannah.  This  vessel,  built  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  hav- 
ing a  steam-engine  and  paddle-wheels,  certainly  crossed  to  Liverpool  in 
1819;  but  it  is  asserted  that  she  sailed  all  the  way,  using  her  steam  very 
little,  if  at  all,  although  making  the  trip  in  twenty-two  days.  In  1825  the 
English  steamer  Enterprise  went  from  London  to  Calcutta ;  but  it  was 
not  until  some  years  later  that  ocean  navigation  by  steam  became  successful 
in  the  beginning  of  operations  by  the  Cunard  Company  in  1833. 

These  first  steamers  were  side-wheelers,  and  their  huge  boilers  and 
simple  engines  consumed  so  much  fuel  that  the  space  taken  up  by  the  coal, 
added  to  that  devoted  to  passengers,  left  little  room  for  cargo.  Moreover, 
their  speed  was  less,  often,  than  that  of  the  "clippers,"  so  that  for  some 
time  the  sailing-packets  maintained  their  competition.  The  adoption  of  the 
screw  propeller,  in  place  of  the  costly  and  cumbersome  side-paddles,  and 
the  perfection  of  the  compound  marine  engine,  which  effected  a  great 
saving  in  fuel,  soon  established  the  superiority  of  steam  navigation  for 
passenger  service,  fast  freights,  and  service  in  war, —  yet  even  these  im- 
provements were  not  fairly  brought  about  until  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century  had  gone ;  and  sails  are  not  yet  abandoned,  not  only  because  they 
steady  a  vessel  in  a  gale,  and  may  help  her  decidedly  when  the  wind  is  fair, 
but  may  save  her  altogether  in  case  of  the  disabling  of  her  machinery. 

Great  modifications  and  improvements  on  old  models  have  grown  out  of  the  employment 
of  steam  and  the  screw,  and  human  invention  has  been  taxed  to  the  uttermost  to  combine 
economy  of  space  and  expense  with  the  various  needs  of  different  climes,  or  special  cargoes,  or 
the  demands  of  a  traveling  public  that  is  growing  more  fastidious  every  day.  The  most  obvious 
changes  in  naval  construction  have  been  in  the  greatly  elongated  hull,  the  enormous  dimensions 
aimed  at,  and  the  all  but  universal  employment  of  iron.  When  the  first  steamship  crossed  the  ocean 
the  proportions  of  ships  averaged  three  to  five  beams  in  length.  .  .  .  But  it  was  discovered  that 
with  a  given  power  and  depth  and  beam  the  length  could  be  increased  without  materially  affect- 
ing the  speed,  thus  adding  to  the  carrying  capacity  of  steam.  Great  length  to  beam,  however, 
does  not  necessarily  imply  great  speed ;  the  speed  of  beamy  vessels  has  too  often  been  demon- 
strated. Fineness  of  lines  is  equally  essential,  together  with  the  proper  distribution  of  weights, 
and  the  Hke.  The  great  average  speed  exhibited  by  the  modern  steamship  is  due  in  large 
part  to  the  momentum  of  such  a  vast  weight,  Avhich,  once  started,  has  a  tremendous  force. 

Long  after  the  transatlantic  steamships  were  regularly  running,  sixteen  or 
seventeen  days  was  considered  a  good  passage  between  New  York  and  Liv- 
erpool,    Then  the  Inman  and  White  Star  lines  began  to  see  the  importance 


1 66 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


of  faster  speed,  and  their  rivalry  had  cut  this  estimate  in  two  by  1870,  and 
ten  years  later  the  Guion  Line's  Arizona  and  other  crack  boats  took  a  full 
day  off  that.  Since  then  there  has  been  a  steady  improvement  in  speed,  as 
is  shown  by  the  table  below ;  and  this  seems  to  have  followed  proportion- 
ately the  steady  increase  in  length.  The  ships  of  1850  never  reached  300 
feet  in  length,  and  few  were  over  2300  tons  in  burden  measurement.  By 
1880  almost  all  the  hrst-class  "liners"  of  the  world  exceeded  450  feet,  and 
some  soon  approached  600,  as  the  City  of  Rome  (586  feet,  8826  tons),  and  sev- 
eral of  the  famous  Hamburg  liners,  White  Stars,  and  Cunarders  nearly 
equaled  her  in  dimensions  {Paris  and  New  York,  580  feet  each  ;  Teutonic 
and  Majestic,  582  feet)  ;  while  some  of  the  more  recent  boats  are  even 
longer,  as  Campania  and  Lucania,  620  feet,  and  the  gigantic  Kaiser  Wil- 
hchii  der  Grosse,  648  feet.  Two  other  ships,  now  planned,  will  considerably 
exceed  this  length.  The  total  number  of  transatlantic  passenger-steamships 
regularly  sailing  from  New  York  alone  is  now  between  90  and  100,  belong- 
ing to  14  different  lines.  The  table  of  speed-records  between  New  York  and 
Oueenstown,  since  the  time  was  reduced  to  less  than  six  days,  is  as  follows: 


Year. 

1882 

1891 

1891 

1892 

1893 
1894 

1894 


Steamer.  Line. 

.  Alaska Guion  .    . 

.  Majestic White  Star 

.  Teutonic White  Star 

.  Fa  lis American 

.  Campania      ....  Cunard     . 

.  Lucania Cunard    . 

.  Lucania Cunard    . 


Time. 
Direction.  Date.  Days.  Hours.  Min. 

Eastward  .    .  May  30  to  June  6 


Westward 
Westward 


Aug.  13-19 
Aug.  14-19 


Westward      .  Sept.     8-14 
Eastward      .  Oct.     21-26 


6 

2 

0 

5 

18 

8 

5 

16 

31 

5 

14 

24 

5 

12 

7 

5 

8 

38 

5 

7 

23 

The  approximate  distance  between  Sandy  Hook  (light-ship),  New  York,  and  Queenstown 
(Roche's  Point)  is  2800  miles.  The  fastest  day's  run  on  record,  however,  was  made  by  the 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse,  of  the  Nord  Deutscher  Lloyds  Line,  averaging  22.35  l<nots  (or 
nautical  miles,  of  6080  feet  each)  per  hour,  equal  to  about  25)^  land  miles.  From  Sandy  Hook 
to  Queenstown  deduct  4  hours  22  minutes  for  difference  in  time.  Queenstown  to  Sandy  Hook 
add  4  hours  22  minutes  for  difference  in  time. 


This  eager  rivalry  in  respect  to  speed,  which  insures  not  only  a  larger 
and  more  influential  passenger  service,  but  increased  business  in  fast  freight 
and  in  the  carriage  of  mail  —  both  highly  remunerative  —  is  only  one  fea- 
ture of  the  sharp  competition  between  these  ocean  carriers  as  to  which  shall 
offer  the  greatest  advantages,  and  this  is  of  benefit  to  the  public,  though  it 
has  not  greatly  cheapened  fares. 

Men  travel  far  more  now  than  they  were  wont  in  the  time  of  "good 
Queen   Bess,"  or  even  of  our  own  grandfathers,  and  the  few  travelers  for 


EMIGRANT   PASSENGERS   EMBARKING    UPON   A  TRANSATLANTIC  "LINER." 


1 68  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

pleasure  of  those  days  would  scarcely  believe  their  eyes  if  they  could  look 
into  the  floating  palaces  —  almost  cities  —  in  which  we  brave  old  ocean  now. 
A  ship  of  one  of  the  better  passenger  lines  is  a  little  world  in  itself,  contain- 
ing almost  all  the  appliances  of  the  best  modern  hotels  on  shore,  and  reduc- 
ing the  inevitable  inconveniences  of  life  on  shipboard  by  clever  devices  of 
every  sort.  In  the  one  matter  of  ventilation  the  ingenuity  of  the  builders  is 
particularly  taxed.  Money  is  spent  lavishly  in  the  finishing  and  furnishing 
of  these  great  ships,  not  to  mention  the  expense  of  running  them,  which 
sometimes  amounts  in   cost  of  fuel,  food,  and  wages  to  $5000  a  day. 

The  steamship  lines  between  New  York  and  Great  Britain  do  not  steer 
straight  across  the  Atlantic,  but  on  their  way  to  this  country  keep  well  to 
the  northward,  so  as  to  get  to  the  west  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  into  the 
favorable  current  flowing  south  from  Baffin's  Bay ;  then  they  skirt  New- 
foundland, Nova  Scotia,  and  Cape  Cod.  Going  east,  however,  the  steam- 
ers—  and  sailing-vessels  too — keep  farther  south,  and  work  along  with  the 
Gulf  Stream  as  far  as  they  can.  From  Europe  to  South  America,  or 
through  the  Straits  of  Magellan  on  their  way  to  the  South  Sea  islands  or 
Australia  (though  this  route  is  not  often  taken),  or  to  the  Pacific  coast  of 
the  Americas,  vessels  keep  close  down  the  African  coast,  and  then  steer 
straight  ahead  from  Guinea  to  Brazil,  and  on  down  the  American  coast. 
(Put  a  map  before  you  and  you  will  understand  these  courses  better.) 
Sailing-vessels  to  Europe  or  the  United  States  from  Cape  Horn,  however, 
would  swing  far  out  into  the  South  Atlantic  to  avoid  heading  against  the 
southward  coast-current  and  to  get  the  benefit  of  the  southwest  trade-wind 
and  the  equatorial  currents.  Between  New  York  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  the  track  is  nearly  straight. 

In  the  Pacific,  the  steamer-route  between  San  Francisco  or  Vancouver 
and  China  and  Japan,  instead  of  being  as  direct  as  a  parallel  of  latitude, 
takes  a  southerly  course  when  bound  west,  and  a  northerly  course  when 
bound  east,  the  exact  lines  varying  with  the  seasons  as  the  prevailing  winds 
and  currents  change.  What  these  winds  and  currents  are  is  explained  in 
another  chapter ;  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  there  is  a  difference  of 
many  miles  in  the  ordinary  westerly  and  easterly  courses,  the  latter  being 
much  the  shorter,  althoupfh  the  vessels  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Line  often 
sail  so  far  north  with  the  Japan  warm  current  as  to  sight  the  Aleutian 
Islands.  Sailing-vessels,  moreover,  curve  so  much  farther  south  than 
steamers  in  going  west  from  San  Francisco,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of 
the  equatorial  current  and  the  trade-winds,  that  the  space  is  a  thousand 
miles  north  and  south  between  ships  outward  bound  and  those  coming 
h(MTie.      Between  California  and  Honolulu  a  steamer  takes  a  bee-line,  but 


THE    MERCHANTS    OF    THE    SEA 


169 


^j^ ^^  ;   e  n 


iS^W-r-'.^,-^ 


,-  _  _  .  -:&(4l*^StO  Sri 


"^^ 


A  "WHALEBACK"   FREIGHT   STEAMER,   ALSO  ADAPTED  TO   PASSENGER  SERVICE. 


sailing-vessels  find  it  best  to  make  detours.  In  summer,  when  outward 
bound,  this  amounts  to  steering  straight  northward  until  under  latitude  forty 
degrees,  before  turning  westward,  making  an  angular  course  that  looks 
very  unnecessary  to  a  landsman. 

I  have  said  that  the  finding  of  a  sea-route  to  the  East  around  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  was  a  great  boon  to  western  Europe,  and  advanced  com- 
merce. It  remained  so  until  within  the  last  seventy-five  years.  Lately, 
the  corsairs  being  out  of  the  way,  and  safety  guaranteed  in  Egypt,  mer- 
chants and  sailors  both  began  to  wish  they  had  a  shorter  route  between 
England  and  India.  Then,  with  immense  labor  and  sacrifice,  the  canal  was 
cut  across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  commerce  returned  to  its  ancient  chan- 
nel through  the  Red  Sea,  saving  thousands  of  miles  of  weary  distance. 

From  the  end  of  the  Red  Sea  at  Aden,  the  tracks  of  steamers  both 
ways  are  straight  courses  to  Bombay  or  Ceylon,  and  thence  right  up  to 
Calcutta,  across  to  Singapore,  or  down  to  Australia.  Except  East  Afri- 
can coast  lines,  few  steamers  go  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  from  Eng- 
land, excepting  one  line  to  South  Australia,  which  steers  straight  eastward 
all  the  way  from  Cape  Town  to  Adelaide,  6125  miles.  But  the  Indian 
Ocean  is  so  situated  under  the  equator,  is  so  filled  with  prevailing  winds 


170 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


and  currents  and  counter  currents,  that  sailing-vessels  must  take  very 
roundabout  courses  there,  and  can  by  no  means  steer  the  same  track  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year.  These  voyages  from  New  York  and  London  to  the 
East  are  the  longest  regular  sea-roads.  A  short  table  of  distances  between 
well-known  ports  along  regular  steamer-routes  will  be  of  interest;  and  by 
reversing  them,  or  adding  them  together,  the  sailing  distance  between 
almost  any  two  ports  on  the  globe  may  be  calculated. 


Acapulco  to  San  Francisco i>85o 

Aden  to  Bombay ^j^35 

Aden  to  Colombo  (Ceylon) 2,100 

Aden  to  Zanzibar Ij77o 

Auckland  to  Honolulu 3>9^S 

Auckland  to  Suva  (Fiji)       i)i4o 

Cadiz  to  Teneriffe  (Canaries) 698 

Cape  Horn  to  Rio  de  Janeiro     ....  2,350 

Cape  Town  to  Plymouth  (Eng.)      .    .    .  6,016 

Cork  to  St.  John's  (N.  F.) Ij73o 

Ceylon  to  West  Australia 3)305 

Glasgow  to  New  York 2,790 

Havre  to  Martinique 3>56o 

Havre  to  New  York 3;  160 

Hobart  (Tas.)  to  Invercargill  (N.  Z.)      .  930 

Hong  Kong  to  Manila 650 

Hong  Kong  to  Shanghai 800 

Hong  Kong  to  Yokohama 1,620 

Leith  (Scot.)  to  Iceland IJ050 

Lisbon  via  Dakar  (W.  Af.)  to  Pemambuco  3,297 

Lisbon  to  Cape  Verd  Islands      ...  1,537 

Liverpool  to  Barbadoes 3)646 

Lisbon  to  Para      4,000 

Liverpool  to  1-isbon 983 

Liverpool  to  Madeira 1,430 

Liverpool  to  New  Orleans 4,767 


MILES. 

Liverpool  to  New  York 3)057 

Liverpool  to  Para 4,010 

Liverpool  to  Quebec 2,634 

Marseilles  to  Algiers 410 

Montevideo  to  Magellan  Strait  ....  1,070 

New  Orleans  to  Havana 570 

New  York  to  Colon 1,980 

New  York  to  San  Francisco,  about    .    .  17,000 

New  York,  via  St.  Thomas,  to  Para  .    .  3,130 

Panama  to  San  Francisco 3,260 

Porto  Rico  (San  Juan)  to  Havana     ,    .  1,030 

Rio  de  Janeiro  to  Plymouth 4,941 

San  Francisco  to  Honolulu 2,080 

San  Francisco  to  Yokohama 5,280 

Shanghai  to  Yokohama ^f'^33 

Singapore  to  Hong  Kong 1,430 

Suez  to  Aden  (length  of  Red  Sea)  .    .    .  1,308 

Suva  to  Honolulu 2,783 

Sydney  to  Auckland 1,281 

Sydney  to  Vancouver  (B.  C.)      ....  6,780 

Teneriffe  to  Porto  Rico 2,790 

Trieste  to  Bombay 4,3 1 7 

Yokohama  to  Honolulu 3,445 

Yokohama  to  San  Francisco 4,75° 

Yokohama  to  Victoria 4,320 

Zanzibar  to  Bombay 2,400 


CHAPTER   VIII 
ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS 


S  the  sea  has  furnished  opportunities  for  so  much  good, — 
for  manly  exertion,  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  acquain- 
tance with  people  outside  of  one's  own  country,  and  for  gain- 
ing wealth, —  so  it  has  given  a  chance  for  unscrupulous  men 
to  show  the  worst  that  is  in  them;  and  the  guarding  of 
shore  towns  and  merchant  vessels  from  piratical  attacks  has  always  been  a 
part  of  the  usefulness  and  duty  of  a  nation's  naval  force. 

As  on  land  there  are  robbers  and  highwaymen,  so  on  the  ocean  robber 
ships  have  often  been  lying  in  wait  for  vessels  loaded  with  treasure,  and 
have  landed  crews  of  marauders  to  make  havoc  with  rich  seaboard  prov- 
inces. Such  robbers  on  the  high  seas  are  termed  pirates,  and  their  crime 
was  visited  by  the  old  laws  with  torturing  punishments ;  yet  they  were 
never  more  daring  than  when  the  laws  against  them  were  severest. 

The  word  is  Greek,  and  the  first  pirates  who  figure  in  history  are  those 
of  the  Greek  and  Byzantine  islands  and  coasts — bloody  ruffians  who  origi- 
nated the  amusing  method  of  disposing  of  unransomed  prisoners  by  making 
them  "  walk  the  plank,"  as  has  been  done  within  the  present  century. 

The  intricate  channels  and  hidden  harbors  of  the  ^^gean  Sea  long 
remained  a  hiding-place  of  sea-robbers,  and  are  still  haunted  by  them, 
though  every  few  years,  from  Caesar's  time  till  now,  the  kings  of  the  sur- 
rounding countries  have  sent  expeditions  to  break  them  up.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  piracy  in  that  region  was  especially  prevalent.  The  crews  then 
were  chiefly  Turkish,  but  the  great  leaders  were  two  renegade  Greeks,  the 
brothers  Aruck  and  Hayradin  Barbarossa  ("  Redbeard"). 

It  happened  that  Spain,  having  conquered  the  Moors  of  Granada  in 
1492  and  pursued  her  victories  across  the  straits,  had  gained  control  of 
Algeria  (at  that  time  a  collection  of  small  Mohammedan  states),  and  held  it 
until  the  death  of  King  Ferdinand  in  15 16.  Then  the  Algerians  sent  an 
embassy  to  Aruck  (sometimes  spelled  Horuk,  or  Ouradjh)  Barbarossa,  re- 


172 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


questing  him  to  aid  them  in  driving  out  the  Spaniards,  and  promising  him 
a  share  in  the  spoils.  He  eagerly  accepted  this  proposition,  seeing  a  great 
deal  more  in  it  than  the  Algerians  saw;  and  the  moment  the  Spaniards  had 


ITN^i^f 


WALKING   THE   PLANK. 


been  beaten  and  expelled  he  murdered  the  prince  he  had  come  there  to 
help,  seized  upon  the  city  and  port  for  himself,  and  made  it  the  headquarters 
of  that  system  of  desperate  piracy  which  became  the  dread  of  all  Europe. 
These  robbers  of  the  sea  called  themselves  corsairs,  from  an  Italian  word 
signifying  "a  race";  and  they  generally  won,  because  they  had  the  best 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS  1 73 

and  swiftest  vessels  of  that  time,  such  as  feluccas,  xebecs,  and  the  like.  The 
black  flag  which  they  flew  was  not  blacker  than  their  reputations,  so  that 
even  yet  to  call  a  man  as  bad  as  a  Barbary  pirate  is  to  mean  that  he  could 
not  be  much  worse  if  he  tried.  The  Spanish  colonies  in  America,  a  few 
years  later,  began  sending  home  immense  treasures  dug  in  the  silver-  and 
gold-mines  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  and  extorted  from  the  natives  or  stolen  from 
the  temples  of  those  unhappy  countries.  A  quantity  of  ingots  and  gold  and 
silver  ornaments  equal  in  value  to  fifteen  million  dollars  of  our  modern 
money  was  taken  at  one  time  by  Pizarro,  in  Peru,  as  the  ransom  of  the  Inca 
Atahualpa,  and  booty  amounting  to  a  similar  sum  was  gained  in  the 
sacking  of  various  cities.  This  great  inpouring  of  wealth  caused  a  general 
giving  up  of  manufactures  and  trade  in  Spain,  and  was  one  of  the  reasons 
of  her  final  decline  in  power,  and  it  had  the  immediate  bad  eflect  of  making 
piracy  more  attractive  than  ever.  The  treasure-ships,  though  convoyed  by 
war- ships,  were  often  attacked  and  captured  by  the  corsairs.  Barbarossa's 
fleets  were  more  like  armadas  of  a  powerful  nation  than  mere  pirate  craft; 
and  whenever  it  happened  that  his  commanders  were  defeated,  they  would 
land  upon  the  nearest  unprotected  coast  of  Spain,  France,  or  Italy,  and 
pillage  and  burn  some  town  in  revenge.  How  galling  this  was  to  all  mer- 
chants and  travelers  we  can  hardly  understand  in  these  days ;  but  so  strong 
were  the  corsairs  that  the  fleets  and  armies  of  various  governments,  and 
even  of  the  Pope,  which  were  sent  against  them,  could  not  gain  their  strong- 
hold nor  suppress  their  cruisers,  at  least  for  more  than  a  short  time. 
Charles  V  of  Spain  tried  greatly  to  conquer  them  ;  but  although  his  forces, 
attacking  Aruck  Barbarossa  from  the  province  of  Oran,  near  Algiers,  de- 
feated and  killed  him,  Hayradin  (more  properly  spelled  Khair-ed-din)  Bar- 
barossa succeeded  his  brother,  and,  placing  himself  under  the  protection 
of  Turkey,  continued  to  build  up  the  power  of  the  pirates.  His  first  care 
was  to  fortify  the  city  of  Algiers,  and  he  expended  a  great  deal  of  money 
and  labor  on  the  perfection  of  the  harbor,  compelling  all  his  prisoners  and 
thousands  of  citizens  to  work  as  slaves  on  the  defenses.  Next  he  conquered 
Tunis,  and  was  selected  by  the  sultan  as  the  only  fit  man  to  sail  against 
Andrea  Doria,  the  great  Genoese  naval  commander  of  the  Christians  in 
their  wars  against  the  Turks  early  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Mediterranean 
commerce  became  so  unsafe  that  watch-towers  were  built  all  along  the 
coasts,  and  guards  were  kept  afoot  to  give  alarm  at  the  approach  of  the 
corsairs.  Charles  V  gathered  together  a  powerful  armament,  and  sailed  to 
the  rescue  of  Tunis,  recapturing  it  for  its  rightful  sovereign  in  1535  ;  but  he 
was  never  able  to  capture  Hayradin  Barbarossa,  who  lived  out  his  life  in 
Algiers  as  "  a  friend  to  the  sea  and  an  enemy  to  all  who  sailed  upon  it." 


174  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

After  his  time  the  power  of  the  pirates  continued  under  other  leaders ;  and 
not  Algeria  alone,  but  Tripoli,  Morocco,  and  even  Tunis,  harbored  piratical 
vessels  in  every  port,  and  the  rulers  shared  their  spoils ;  piracy,  indeed, 
was  the  source  of  their  national  revenues,  and  was  encouraged  by  the  Sultan 
of  Turkey  inasmuch  as  all  these  states  were  his  vassals. 

Every  few  years  some  European  power — Spain,  France,  Venice,  or  Eng- 
land— would  lose  patience,  send  a  fleet,  and  open  a  campaign  that  would 
be  successful  in  destroying  certain  strongholds,  releasing  a  crowd  of  pris- 
oners, and  burning  or  sinking  many  ships.  The  city  of  Algiers  was  bom- 
barded almost  into  ruins  in  1682,  and  the  job  completed  a  year  later,  after 
the  Algerians  had  tossed  the  French  consul  out  to  the  fleet,  with  their 
compliments,  from  the  mouth  of  a  mortar.  They  were  fond  of  such 
jokes.  Nevertheless,  the  city  speedily  recovered,  and  piracy,  complicated 
by  Moslem  fanaticism  and  Turkish  politics,  harassed  commerce  during  all 
the  next  century,  partly  because  Europe  was  so  busy  in  its  own  wars  that 
it  had  no  time  for  outside  matters,  and  partly  because  it  was  for  the  advan- 
tage of  certain  nations  (particularly  of  Great  Britain,  which,  in  posses- 
sion of  Gibraltar  and  Port  Mahon,  might  have  suppressed  this  villainy) 
to  let  the  corsairs  prey  upon  its  foes — especially  France.  The  actual 
result  was  that  most  or  all  of  the  European  powers  fell  into  the  custom 
of  paying  to  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  otl\er  rulers  of  the  Barbary  (or 
Berber)  States  large  sums  of  money  as  annual  tribute  to  restrain  them  from 
official  depredations  upon  their  coasts  and  commerce,  besides  other  large 
payments  for  the  ransom  of  such  Christian  prisoners  as  each  sultan's 
lively  subjects  continued  to  take  in  spite  of  treaties. 

In  this  shameful  condition  of  aflairs  the  newly  independent  United  States 
was  obliged  to  join  during  the  first  years  of  its  existence,  to  secure  im- 
munity for  our  commerce  in  the  Mediterranean,  because  we  had  not  yet  had 
time  to  create  a  navy.  By  the  end  of  the  century,  however,  the  United 
States  was  able  to  defend  itself  at  sea,  and  in  1801  answered  the  insults  of 
Tripoli  by  bombarding  its  capital  seaport  until  the  dey  sued  for  mercy  and 
promised  to  behave  himself.  Nevertheless,  he  needed  another  lesson,  and 
in  1803  a  second  American  fleet  was  sent  to  the  Mediterranean,  commanded 
by  Preble,  in  the  Constitidioii,  with  such  subordinate  officers  as  Bainbridge, 
Uecatur,  Somers,  Hull,  Stewart,  Lawrence,  and  others  that  later  became 
famous.  One  incident  of  this  campaign,  which  began  by  frightening  the 
Sultan  of  Morocco  at  Tangier  into  abject  submission,  but  was  especially 
directed  against  Tripoli,  is  well  worth  remembering. 

Captain  Bainbridge,  going  alone  in  the  fine  frigate  Pkiladelphia  into 
the  harbor  of  the  city  of  Tripoli,  had  unfortunately  run  aground,  and  there. 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS 


175 


overpowered  by  the  number  of  his  enemies  afloat  and  ashore,  had  been 
compelled  to  give  up  his  ship,  and  find  himself  and  all  his  crew  taken  pris- 
oners. He  managed  to  get  word  of  his  misfortune  to  Commodore  Preble 
at  Malta,  and  that  officer  at  once  took  his  fleet  to  Tripoli  —  Decatur,  in  the 


r 


i^^-^ 


THE  "ARGUS"   CAPTURING   A   TRIPOLITAN   PIRATE   FELUCCA. 


Argus,  gallantly  capturing  on  the  way  one  of  the  great  lateen-sailed  pirati- 
cal crafts  of  the  enemy,  which  later  proved  a  useful  instrument  in  the  con- 
test. The  fleet  blockaded  Tripoli  for  a  while,  and  shelled  the  fortifications 
somewhat,  just  to  give  the  bashaw  a  hint,  and  to  encourage  the  poor  pris- 
oners ;  but  none  of  the  big  vessels  was  able  to  enter  the  narrow,  tortuous, 
and  ill-charted  harbor  in  the  face  of  the  many  batteries,  under  whose  guns 
the  Philadelphia  could  be  seen  at  anchor  with  the  Tripolitan  flag  at  her 


176  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

main,  so  they  sailed  away  to  Syracuse  to  make  preparations  for  reducing 
this  nest  of  barbarians.  Gunboats  of  Hght  draft  and  mortar-vessels  had 
to  be  fitted  out;  but  the  first  thing  was  to  try  to  carry  out  a  plan  that 
Decatur  and  all  his  friends  had  been  maturing  ever  since  they  had  arrived — 
the  destruction  of  the  Philadelphia,  not  only  because  she  had  been  refitted 
into  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  because  it  was  gall- 
ing to  national  as  well  as  naval  pride  to  see  her  flying  a  foreign  flag.  The 
plan  was  this : 

Decatur  was  to  take  a  picked  crew  of  seventy  officers  and  men  on  the 
captured  felucca  (renamed  hitrepid^,  and  attempt  at  night  to  penetrate  to 
the  inner  harbor  of  Tripoli  in  the  disguise  of  a  trader,  supported  as  well  as 
possible  by  the  gun-brig  Siren,  also  disguised  as  a  merchantman.  As  his 
pilot  was  an  Italian  and  a  competent  linguist,  it  was  hoped  the  ketch 
could  get  near  enough  to  set  fire  to  the  ship,  whirl  a  shotted  deck-gun  in-to 
position  to  send  a  shell  down  the  main  hatch  and  through  her  bottom,  fire 
it,  and  escape  before  the  surprise  was  over.  The  chances  of  failure  were 
enough  to  daunt  the  bravest,  yet  every  man  in  the  fleet  wanted  to  go. 

On  February  15,  1804,  Decatur  in  his  felucca,  and  Somers  commanding 
the  brig,  found  themselves,  toward  evening,  again  in  sight  of  the  town,  with 
its  circle  of  forts  crowned  by  the  frowning  castle.  The  great  Philadelphia 
stood  out  in  bold  relief,  closely  surrounded  by  two  frigates  and  more  than 
twenty  gunboats  and  galleys.  From  the  castle  and  batteries  115  guns 
could  be  trained  upon  an  attacking  force,  besides  the  fire  of  the  vessels,  yet 
the  bold  tars  on  the  Intrepid  did  not  quail. 

The  crew  having  been  sent  below,  the  pilot  Catalona  took  the  wheel, 
while  Decatur  stood  beside  him,  disguised  as  a  common  sailor.  It  was  now 
nine  o'clock,  and  bright  moonlight.  Standing  steadily  in,  they  rounded  to 
close  by  the  Philadelphia,  and,  boldly  hailing  her  deck-watch,  asked  the  priv- 
ilege of  mooring  to  her  chains  for  the  night,  explaining  that  they  had  lost 
their  anchors  in  the  late  storm,  and  so  forth,  until  at  last  consent  was  given. 

Having  dragged  themselves  close  to  the  frigate,  it  was  the  work  of  only 
a  moment  to  board  her  with  a  rush,  overpower  her  surprised  crew,  and  make 
sure  of  her  destruction  by  means  of  the  combustibles  and  powder  they  had 
brought  with  them.  Before  their  task  was  done,  however,  they  had  been 
discovered,  and  it  is  almost  a  miracle  that  they  were  able  to  return  to  their 
ftjlucca,  and  make  their  way  out  of  the  harbor,  through  a  rain  of  harmless 
cannon-balls  ;  yet  they  did  so,  and  Decatur  was  justly  honored  for  one  of 
the  most  gallant  exploits  in  naval  annals. 

A  few  weeks  later  Preble's  squadron  shelled  the  pirate  city  and  fortresses 
into  ruin,  forced  Tripoli  as  well  as  Algiers  and  Tunis  to  respect  then  and 


ROBBERS    OF   THE    SEAS  177 

thenceforth  the  American  flag,  and  gave  these  arrogant  rulers  the  new  sen- 
sation of  paying  instead  of  receiving  money  for  bad  deeds.  It  put  an  end 
to  the  corsairs. 

Turkish  and  Barbary  pirates  were  not  the  only  ones  in  the  world,  how- 
ever. Although  the  old  Norwegian  vikings  and  rough  Norman  barons 
did  not  go  under  that  name,  they  were  scarcely  anything  else,  in  fact,  as 
the  neighboring  peoples  could  testify,  though  this  was  far  back  before  mod- 
ern history  began.  But  when  the  Spaniards  and  the  French  began  to  col- 
onize the  West  Indies,  and  to  dig  mines  in  South  and  Central  America,  not 
only  were  the  Barbary  corsairs  given  a  fresh  incentive,  but  a  new  set  of 
pirates  sprang  up,  the  most  daring  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

As  the  archipelago  east  of  Greece  had  sheltered  the  hordes  of  the  Turk- 
ish sea-robbers,  so  the  many  islands,  crooked  channels,  reefs  unknown  to 
all  but  the  local  pilots,  small  harbors,  and  abundant  food  of  the  Antilles, 
made  the  West  Indies  the  safest  place  in  the  world  for  pirates  to  pursue 
their  work.  To  these  new  and  wild  regions,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  had 
flocked  desperados  and  adventurers  from  all  over  the  world.  When  the 
wars  with  their  chances  of  plunder  died  out  after  the  campaigns  led  by 
Cortes,  Pizarro,  Balboa,  and  the  rest  of  the  Spanish  conquistadores,  many 
ruffians  seized  upon  vessels  by  force,  or  stole  them,  and  turned  into  robbers 
of  the  sea.  At  first,  as  a  rule,  they  had  farms  and  families  on  some  island, 
and  went  freebooting  only  a  portion  of  the  year.  The  island  of  Hayti,  or 
Santo  Domingo,  was  then  settled  by  farmers,  hunters,  and  cattlemen,  the 
last-named  of  whom,  mainly  French,  passed  most  of  their  time  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  island,  capturing,  herding,  or  killing  half- wild  cattle  and  hogs. 
But  the  monopolies  which  Spain  imposed  upon  the  colonists  interfered  with 
the  market  for  their  produce  and  induced  an  illicit  trade,  which  led  to  fre- 
quent encounters  with  the  Spanish  navy.  As  the  constant  wars  between 
Spain  and  France  and  England  increased  the  difficulties  of  trade,  large  num- 
bers of  the  colonists  joined  the  freebooters,  who  then  became  extremely 
numerous  and  formidable,  losing  their  old  name  and  becoming  known  by 
that  of  the  cattlemen  —  buccaneers,  from  the  French  word  boucanier. 

First  Santo  Domingo,  then  Tortugas,  and  finally  Jamaica  were  head- 
.  quarters  of  the  buccaneers,  who  were  made  up  of  men  of  all  nations,  united 
by  a  desire  to  prey  upon  Spain  as  a  common  enemy.  They  were  thou- 
sands in  number,  possessed  large  fleets  of  ships  and  boats,  were  well  armed, 
and  finally  formed  a  regular  organization  with  a  chief  and  under-officers. 
The  most  noted  of  these  chiefs,  perhaps,  was  Henry  Morgan,  a  Welshman, 
who  was  at  one  time  captured  and  taken  home  to  England  for  trial.  To  his 
own  surprise,  instead  of  being  executed,  he  was  knighted  by  Charles  II, 


178  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

who  had  not  been  at  all  grieved  at  seeing  Spanish  commerce  harassed ; 
and  Morgan  was  returned  to  Jamaica  as  commissioner  of  admiralty,  where 
at  one  time  he  acted  as  deputy  governor,  using  his  opportunity  to  make 
it  unpleasant  for  those  of  the  buccaneers  with  whom  he  had  formerly  had 
disagreements  as  to  the  distribution  of  prizes. 

The  earlier  buccaneers  found  ample  plunder  in  the  Spanish  fleets. 
They  patrolled  the  sea  in  the  track  of  vessels  bound  to  and  from  Europe, 
and  seized  them,  allowing  or  compelling  the  crews  to  become  pirates,  or 
else  to  be  killed  or  carried  into  slavery.  This  work,  however,  employed 
only  a  portion  of  the  buccaneers ;  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  as 
the  commerce  of  Spain  declined,  it  became  too  uncertain  a  means  of  wealth 
to  suit  them.  But  the  rich  Spanish  settlements  still  remained ;  and  often, 
therefore,  they  equipped  a  great  fleet,  enlisted  men  under  certain  strict 
rules  as  to  sharing  the  spoils,  and  sailed  away  to  pillage  some  coast.  There 
was  hardly  an  island  in  the  West  Indies  from  which,  in  this  way,  they  did 
not  extort  immense  sums  of  money  under  threat  of  destruction  of  the  people. 
The  mainland  also  suffered  from  the  marauders.  Great  cities,  like  Carta- 
gena in  Venezuela,  Panama  on  the  Isthmus,  Merida  in  Yucatan,  and 
Havana  in  Cuba,  were  attacked  by  armies  of  buccaneers  numbering  thou- 
sands of  men.  Sometimes  their  fortifications  held  good,  and  the  enemy  was 
beaten  back ;  but  sooner  or  later  all  these  cities,  and  others,  smaller,  were 
captured,  robbed  of  everything  valuable  that  they  contained,  and  burned  or 
partly  burned. 

For  years  the  buccaneers  were  the  terror  of  the  Caribbean  region,  and 
after  the  famous  sacking  of  Panama,  under  Morgan,  in  1671,  their  power 
spread  across  the  Isthmus  and  scourged  the  southern  seas.  We  have  no 
way  of  knowing  the  amount  of  the  treasure  which  they  captured  from  the 
merchant  vessels  and  from  the  coast  of  Peru ;  for  the  moment  they  got 
home  from  an  expedition  they  wasted  all  their  booty  in  wild  carousing,  so 
that  the  spoils  earned  by  months  of  exposure,  and  wounds,  and  danger  of 
death,  would  be  spent  in  a  single  week. 

At  last  even  England  and  France,  after  secretly  favoring  .the  buccaneers, 
became  roused  to  the  necessity  of  controlling  them,  and  it  was  with  this 
object  in  view  that  a  certain  Captain  William  Kidd  was  fitted  out  at 
private  expense  toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  armed  with 
King  William's  commission  for  seizing  pirates  and  making  reprisals, 
England  being  at  war  with'  France.  Just  why  it  was,  nobody  has  explained, 
but  Captain  Kidd  spent  his  time  in  loitering  around  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  no  pirates  were  to  be  found,  until  he  grew  quite  disheartened,  and, 
fearing  to  be  dismissed  by  his  employers  and  to  be  "mark'd  out  for  an 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEA 


179 


unlucky  man,"  he  started  a  little  pirate  business  for  himself,  in  which  he 
gained  more  of  a  certain  kind  of  fame  than  any  of  the  rest ;  for  popular 
tradition  supposes  him  to  have  hoarded  his  l?ooty  and  buried  it.  "  Captain 
Kidd's  treasure"  has  been  sought  for  until  the  whole  eastern  coast  of  the 
United  States  is  honeycombed  with  diggings  for  it ;  but  probably  he  had 
eaten  and  drunk  it  up  before  1701,  when  he  was  captured  and  executed  in 


'  In  revel  and  carousing 
We  gave  the  New  Year  housing, 


With  wreckage  for  our  firing, 
And  rum  to  heart's  desiring." 


England.  About  this  time,  however,  and  without  his  valuable  aid,  the 
combined  naval  forces  of  all  the  nations  interested  in  the  commerce  of  the 
New  World  broke  the  power  of  the  buccaneers,  and  their  depredations 
ceased.  Their  story  is  one  of  the  wildest,  most  romantic,  and  most  terrible 
in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  trade  of  piracy  was  carried  on  during  the  eighteenth  century  in  the 
region  of  the  West  Indies  by  unorganized  bands  of  desperados  who  had  all 
the  faults  and  none  of  the  greatness  of  the  men  they  succeeded,  and  who 
received  little  attention  from  the  world  at  large.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  Barataria  pirates  came  into  notice  on  the  coast  of 
Louisiana,  taking  the  place  of  the  buccaneers,  but  in  a  much  smaller  way. 
Their  leaders,  Pierre  and  John  Lafitte,  carried  on  business  quite  openly  in 
New  Orleans ;  and  their  settlements  on  the  marshy  islands  along  the  coast, 


l8o  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

and  their  "temple,"  to  which  persons  came  out  from  the  city  to  buy  goods, 
were  open  secrets.  But  in  the  War  of  1812,  although  the  British  tried  to 
buy  their  services,  they  redeemed  themselves  by  standing  true  to  the  Ameri- 
can government,  which  had  just  been  trying  to  exterminate  them,  and  so 
they  won  public  pardon  and  an  added  glamour  of  romance. 

For  the  same  reasons  as  those  in  the  case  of  other  island  systems,  the 
East  Indies  have  always  been  infested  with  pirates,  whose  light,  swift  ves- 
sels run  in  and  out  of  the  intricate  channels  among  the  dangerous  coral 
reefs,  where  government  cruisers  dare  not  follow,  while  the  people  on  shore 
sympathize  more  with  the  pirates  than  with  the  police. 

The  East  Indian  sea-robbers  are,  as  a  rule,  natives  of  that  region  — 
Malays,  Borneans,  Dyaks,  and  Chinese,  with  many  half-savages  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands.  This  is  more  like  a  continuance  of  savage  resistance  to 
civilization  than  real  piracy,  since  the  pirates  of  the  Atlantic  are  civilized 
sailors  in  mutiny  against  their  own  people  and  national  commerce.  The 
result  is  just  as  bad,  Jiowever ;  for  these  East  Indians  are  as  bloodthirsty  and 
cruel  as  the  others,  and  if  they  do  not  kill  their  victims,  or  save  them  for 
some  cannibal  feast  (as  would  probably  happen  in  the  New  Hebrides  and 
some  other  islands),  they  condemn  them  to  a  life  of  misery.  But  in  these 
days  of  improved  sea-craft,  piracy,  even  in  Malayan  waters,  is  weak.  Our 
consuls  and  government  agents  watch  suspicious  vessels;  our  telegraph 
warns  the  naval  authorities  in  a  moment ;  our  steam-cruisers  outspeed 
the  swiftest  craft  of  the  black  flag;  our  rifled  guns  silence  their  cheap  artil- 
lery ;  and  our  coast  surveys  furnish  maps  so  accurate  that  the  pirate  no 
longer  holds  the  secret  of  channels  and  harbors  where  he  can  safely  retreat. 
If,  therefore,  the  old  "Redbeards"  should  come  back  to  life  and  try  to  be 
kings  of  the  sea,  as  they  rejoiced  to  be  a  couple  of  centuries  ago,  their  pride 
would  soon  be  humbled,  and  they  would  gladly  return  to  their  graves  and 
their  ancient  glory. 

There  is  a  form  of  sea-roving  which  has  been  at  times  not  very  different 
from  piracy;  it  is  cdW&d privateering,  and  history  shows  a  good  many  cases 
where  it  has  degenerated  into  sea-robbery  pure  and  simple. 

A  priv^ateer  is  a  ship,  owned  by  a  private  citizen  or  citizens,  to  which 
authority  is  given  by  a  government  to  act  as  an  independent  war-vessel.  Its 
commission  is  called  a  "letter  of  marque"  {lettre  de  marque  in  French), 
entitling  it  to  "  take,  burn,  and  destroy  "  a  certain  enemy's  property  on  the 
sea  or  in  its  ports.      It  has  no  right,  of  course,  to  attack  any  one  else. 

The  object  and  plea  of  the  government  issuing  commissions  to  privateers 
is  that  thus  a  great  many  more  armed  vessels  can  be  sent  afloat  than  the 
government  has  money  to  equip,  and  that  consequently  far  more  damage 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS 


I8l 


MALAY   PIRATES   ATTACKING  A   STEAMER. 


will  be  done  to  the  enemy,  by  crippling  his  trade  and  resources,  than 
regular  men-of-war  alone  can  accomplish.  Private  capital  has  been  will- 
ing to  take  the  risk  because  rewarded  by  a  large  share  of  the  prizes ;  and 
from  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  this 
was  one  of  the  most  profitable  of  marine  industries,  for  then  nearly  universal 
wars  made  almost  any  capture  legitimate.  In  the  earlier  times  even  the 
limited  regulation  that  came  later  was  absent,  and  there  was  small  choice 
between  a  privateer  and  a  pirate.  Queen  Elizabeth  found  the  hundreds 
of  privateers  which  she  had  commissioned  against  the  Spanish  and  Dutch 
preying  upon  her  own  people,  and  robbing  fishermen,  coasters,  and  small 
shore  towns,  to  such  an  extent  that  she  had  to  suppress  them  as  bandits. 
Those  were  the  times  when  Hawkins  could  use  a  royal  fleet  to  wage  war 
upon  the  Spanish  colonies  for  private  reasons ;  and  when  his  ablest  lieu- 
tenant, Drake,  could  make  his  notable  journey  around  the  world  a  history 
of  robbery  and  slaughter.  On  the  west  coast  of  South  America  he  spent 
months  in  destroying  Spanish  vessels  and  ravaging  and  burning  settlements; 
yet  it  was  thought  remarkable,  when  he  returned  from  his  circumnavigation 
of  the  globe,  that  the  Queen  hesitated  somewhat  before  recognizing  his 
great  achievements  as  a  seaman,  for  fear  of  complications  with  Spain  ! 

Spain,  in  those  days  of  first  harvest  from  her  American  possessions  and 


l82 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


the  East  Indies,  was  the  prey  of  everybody  on  the  high  seas  able  to  rob 
her,  and  formaHties  were  joyously  disregarded  by  both  sides.  Her  galleons 
carried  precious  cargoes  of  spices,  silks,  and  East  India  goods  around  the 
Cape,  and  brought  silver  ingots  and  gold  bars  from  the  Spanish  Main. 
They  were  usually  convoyed  by  regular  war-ships,  and  had  to  run  the  gant- 
let of  the  enemy's  fleets  whenever  Spain  happened  to  be  openly  at  war  with 
somebody,  as  was  usually  the  case ;  and  otherwise  must  escape  buccaneers 
in  West  Indian  waters,  Malayan  and  Chinese  pirates  in  the  far  East,  and 
irregular  sea-rovers  along  the  West  African  coast,  while  the  corsairs  made 
the  Mediterranean  route  doubly  dangerous. 

The  gradual  growth  of  organized  navies,  the  development  of  interna- 
tional law,   and  the  increasing   organization  of  the  civilized  world  gener- 


PAUL  JONES'    FIGHT   IN   THE    "BON   HOMME    RICHARD"   WITH   THE   "SERAPIS. 


ally,  slowly  tamed  these  wild  practices  and  reduced  privateering  to  some 
sort  of  control.  Thus  Jean  Bart,  the  popular  hero  of  French  naval  history, 
who  flourished  toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  recognized 
and  supported  by  the  French  monarch  as  a  free-lance  in  the  Mediterranean, 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS  1 83 

because  his  humble  birth  prohibited  him  from  taking  a  commission  in  the 
regular  navy,  which  amounted  to  a  sort  of  apology  for  his  deeds. 

During  the  wars  of  the  United  States  with  England  privateering  was 
extensively  practised  on  both  sides,  and  was  of  especial  value  to  the  Ameri- 
cans. Congress  issued  private  commissions  as  early  as  March,  1776,  and 
the  ablest  statesmen  upheld  it  as  a  means  of  employing  the  ships,  capital, 
and  thousands  of  seamen  that  must  lie  idle  when  the  enemy's  cruisers  were 
ranging  the  ocean  highways  unless  permitted  to  arm  themselves  and  assist 
the  government  in  an  irregular  warfare,  trusting  to  the  value  of  their  cap- 
tures for  remuneration.  That  the  chance  of  such  reward  was  enough  induce- 
ment is  shown  by  the  fact  that  during  the  first  year  of  the  Revolution  nearly 
three  hundred  and  fifty  British  vessels  were  captured,  chiefly  West  India- 
men,  worth,  with  their  cargoes,  five  million  dollars.  As  Great  Britain  did 
not  recognize  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  not  only  these,  but  even  our 
regular  naval  officers,  were  regarded  by  them  as  pirates,  rather  than  true 
privateers  —  Paul  Jones  first  of  all;  but  she  never  acted  on  this  theory  with 
the  severity  that  would  have  been  visited  upon  true  pirates. 

In  the  naval  warfare  that  came  later  between  the  United  States  and 
France,  privateering  again  flourished,  and  was  a  source  of  immense  profit  to 
the  principal  seaports  whence  these  swift,  effective  Yankee  vessels  were 
despatched.  No  less  than  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  American  privateers 
were  sent  out  between  1789  and  1799,  and  swept  the  seas  almost  clean  of 
the  French  merchant  flag. 

Then  came  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  which  was  fought  over 
a  question  of  the  sea  rather  than  of  the  land, —  the  right  of  search 
claimed  by  the  British, —  and  once  more  American  and  British  privateers 
swarmed  upon  the  highways  of  commerce.  Of  our  merchant  ships  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  about  five  hundred  were  lost ;  but  this  was  more  than 
paid  for,  since  our  two  hundred  and  fifty  privateers  captured  or  destroyed, 
during  the  three  years  and  nine  months  of  the  conflict,  no  less  than  sixteen 
hundred  British  merchant  vessels  of  all  classes. 

This  disparity  of  results  was  largely  due  to  the  greater  number  of  Eng- 
lish merchant  vessels,  but  is  also  to  be  credited  to  the  superior  speed  and 
handiness  of  the  Yankee  vessels,  most  of  which  were  "  Baltimore  clippers," 
topsail-rigged  schooners  with  raking  masts,  that  could  outsail  and  out- 
manoeuver  anything  afloat.  "They  usually  carried  from  six  to  ten  guns, 
with  a  single  long  one,  which  was  called  '  Long  Tom,'  mounted  on  a  swivel 
in  the  center.  They  were  usually  manned  with  fifty  persons  besides  officers, 
all  armed  with  muskets,  cutlasses,  and  boarding-pikes." 

An  English  writer,  Mr.  R.  C.  Leslie,  is  of  the  opinion  that  this  type  of 


1 84 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


vessel  grew  out  of  models  in  vogue  in  the  West  Indies,  long  before,  for  the 
small  piratical  craft  that  made  those  waters  the  terror  of  travelers. 

These  Baltimore  clippers,  too,  enlarged  and  square-rigged,  but  still  the 
fastest  things  on  the  western  ocean,  formed  the  craft  with  which  the  slave- 
trade  was  continued  between  Africa  and  America  long  after  it  had  been 
condemned  by  the  civilized  world.  For  many  years  previous  to  the  Amer- 
ican Civil  War,  which  put  an  end  to  the  larger  part  of  the  traffic  by  destroy- 


EHORAVED    BY  HENRV  WOLT. 


UNITED   STATES   FRIGATE  "CONSTELLATION"   OVERHAULING  THE   SLAVER  "CORA." 


ing  its  market,  England  and  the  United  States  kept  squadrons  patrolling 
the  African  coast  to  arrest  the  slavers  and  free  their  "  cargoes." 

What  wild,  wild  tales  of  the  sea  do  these  reminiscences  of  piracy,  pri- 
vateering, and  the  slave-chase  bring  to  mind — tales  of  horror,  and  yet  full 
of  such  deeds  of  daring  and  romance  and  fierce  delight  as  must  stir  the 
heart  in  spite  of  brain  and  conscience ! 

Pirates  are  things  of  the  past  —  no  more  to  be  feared  except  in  a 
small  way  in  the  Malayan  and  Chinese  archipelagoes.  The  African  slave- 
trade  is  extinct,  so  far  as  shipment  across  the  ocean  is  concerned,  save 
where,  now  and  then,  an  Arab  dhow  steals  with  its  black  cargo  along  the 
East  African  foreland,  or  flits  across  the  Gulf  of  Aden  or  the  Red  Sea. 
Privateering  has  been  forbidden  by  international  treaty  among  the  larger 


ROBBERS    OF    THE    SEAS 


185 


European  powers,  which  now  recognize  that  trade  goods,  even  of  beUiger- 
ents,  must  be  held  safe  in  the  ships  of  neutrals  (except  articles  declared 
contraband  of  war),  because  the  business  of  the  world  cannot  stop,  or  even 
be  put  in  jeopardy,  by  a  quarrel  between  two  nations.  Privateering,  there- 
fore, has  been  abandoned  in  Europe  as  a  method  of  war  since  the  treaty  of 
Paris  in  1856,  though  Prussia  came  pretty  near  it  in  1870,  by  organizing 
what  she  called  a  volunteer  fleet,  and  Spain  reserves  the  privilege  of  com- 
missioning privateers. 

The  United  States,  however,  and  some  other  countries  whose  policy  or 
ability  forbid  them  to  have  a  large  navy,  would  not  enter  into  the  European 
agreement  above  mentioned,  mutually  to  abstain  from  privateering,  on  the 
plea  that  to  do  so  would  be  to  yield  the  most  powerful  weapon  of  a  nation 
weak  in  naval  armament  and  sea  commerce,  against  any  of  many  possible 
enemies  whose  large  sea-borne  commerce  would  expose  it  to  the  most  seri- 
ous wounds.  In  our  Civil  War  the  President  issued  no  letters  of  marque, 
although  authorized  to  do  so.  It  was  customary  to  speak  of  the  Confederate 
cruisers  Alabama,  Shenandoah,  Florida,  etc.,  as  privateers,  or  even  pirates, 
and  they  actually  played  the  part  with  a  success  woeful  to  us  of  the  North, 
and  to  Great  Britain,  which  had  to  pay  for  the  damages  caused  by  the  Ala- 
bama ;  but,  strictly  speaking,  they  were  neither,  because  commissioned  by 
a  temporary  but  regular  government,  whose  flag  might  have  been  recognized 
if  its  arms  had  succeeded. 

More  lately  (1898)  the  United  States  has  announced  it  as  its  policy  to  re- 
frain from  privateering,  though  no  formal  signature  has  been  given  to  any  in- 
ternational agreement  to  that  effect. 


CHAPTER   IX 

YACHTING   AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 

ACHT  is  a  word  derived  from  the  Dutch  language,  which 
has  given  to  the  EngHsh  so  many  of  its  sea-terms,  meaning, 
originally,  a  fast  boat,  such  as  was  built  for  chasing  pirates 
and  smugglers,  and,  later,  a  pleasure-boat.  The  latter 
meaning  alone  is  now  kept  in  view  by  the  word,  which  is 
properly  applied  to  anything  designed  and  used  for  pleasure- sailing, 
whether  moved  by  sails,  steam,  or  electricity. 

In  Great  Britain,  where  yachting,  as  we  now  understand  it,  arose,  it  was 
not  until  about  1650  that  races  between  pleasure  craft  began  to  be  sailed 
on  the  Thames  and  in  the  quiet  waters  about  the  Isle  of  Wight,  while  the 
first  yacht-club  was  not  formed  until  1720  (at  Cork,  in  Ireland).  Even  then, 
a  century  elapsed  before  yachting  as  a  sport  attracted  much  attention  even 
among  the  British,  famous  for  their  love  of  the  sea.  In  181 2  a  "yacht- 
club  "  was  founded  at  Cowes,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  It  received  a  new  im- 
petus and  became  the  ** Royal  Yacht-Club"  in  181 7,  the  Prince  Regent 
having  joined  it,  and  in  1833  was  again  reorganized  by  King  William  III 
as  the  "  Royal  Yacht  Squadron,"  the  designation  it  bears  to-day.  It  car- 
ried on  races,  or  regattas,  as  they  soon  came  to  be  called  (borrowing  from 
the  Italians  a  term  descriptive  of  the  old  Venetian  gondola  races),  but  all 
sorts  of  cruising-boats  were  matched  against  one  another,  classified  by  a 
tonnage  rule  with  no  allowances  for  size  or  any  of  the  systems  by  which 
contestants  are  now  classified  and  equalized. 

By  this  time,  however,  there  was  peace  on  the  North  Atlantic,  and  many 
a  good  seaman  was  free  to  turn  his  attention  to  enjoying  and  improving  the 
tools  of  his  profession.  By  this  time,  also,  the  Americans  had  made  great 
headway  as  ship-builders  and  seamen,  and  by  rivalry  with  the  Old  World 
for  trade,  and  by  experience  in  the  Newfoundland  fisheries  and  the  West 
Indies  fruit-trade,  had  acquired  a  skill  in  building  and  rigging  ships  that 
astonished  the  world  by  their  speed  and  weatherly  qualities.     It  was  natural 

187 


i88 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


that  these  ideas  should  influence  pleasure  craft  on  this  side  of  the  water,  as 
Great  Britain's  long  sea-struggles  had  influenced  its  sailors;  and, when,  in 
1844,  the  New  York  Yacht- Club  was  founded,  the  conditions  were  favor- 
able for  beginning  that  home  development  of  yachting  as  a  sport  which  was 


AMERICA"    (AS   ORIGINALLY   RIGGED)   ANl 


'.LA." 


soon  to  place  the  Americans  and  Canadians  among  the  leading  yachting 
peoples  of  the  world,  and  to  lead  to  those  international  tests  of  speed  that 
nowadays  excite  so  wide-spread  and  intense  an  interest. 

The  great  preponderance  in  numbers  and  value  of  pleasure-vessels  in 
the  United  States,  and  in  the  number  of  clubs  and  club-members,  is  due  not 
only  to  our  large  population  and  long  coast-line,  but  to  the  great  extent  of 
inland  waters  furnished  by  our  rivers  and  interior  lakes,  and  to  the  preva- 
lence of  bays  or  protected  lagoons,  such  as  Narragansett  Bay,  the  Great 
South  Bay  of  Long  Island,  New  York  harbor,  Delaware  and  Chesapeake 
ba\  s.  and  the  long  series  of  "sounds"  that  border  the  southern  Atlantic  coast 
from  Barnegat  to  Biscayne.  The  Great  Lakes  are  bordered  by  yacht-clubs 
on  both  sides,  and  furnish  space  and  weather  for  quite  as  serious  work  as 
tries  the  skill  of  ocean  navigators,  while  a  hundred  smaller  lakes  make  fine 
pleasure-waters  and  excellent  training-grounds  for  fresh-water  sailors. 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING  1 89 

Though  the  first  regatta  in  America  was  sailed  in  1845,  kittle  over  half 
a  century  ago,  the  evolution  of  American  yachts  began  with  the  building 
of  the  sloop  Maria  by  Robert  L.  Stevens,  one  of  that  family  of  remarkable  in- 
ventors, who  had  already  devised  the  first  practical  screw-steamer,  and  after- 
ward created  the  Monitor.  Her  model,  as  we  learn  from  an  excellent  article 
in  "The  Century"  for  July,  1882,  by  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin,  was  suggested 
by  the  low,  broad,  almost  flat-bottomed  sloops  employed  to  steal  over  the 
shallows  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Sound  —  vessels  depending  upon  beam 
rather  than  on  ballast  for  stability,  and  imitated  by  many  of  our  coasters, 
which  are  so  stiff  that  they  sometimes  make  outside  voyages  without  either 
cargo  or  ballast ;  but  the  Maria  had  a  long,  sharp,  hollowed  bow,  whence 
she  expanded  aft,  with  little  taper  at  the  stern,  so  that  her  deck-plan  was 
that  of  an  elongated  flat-iron.  The  principal  novelty  about  her,  however,  was 
the  use  of  two  "center-boards." 

A  center-board  is  a  plate  of  wood  or  metal,  suspended,  usually  by  a  cor- 
ner pivot,  within  a  sheath  or  box  in  the  waist,  which  can  be  let  down  through 
the  keel  into  the  water,  so  as  to  form  an  adjustable  keel.  It  is  the  most 
convenient  form  of  a  very  old  device  for  preventing  a  boat's  drift  to  leeward, 
or  tendency  to  capsize  under  the  pressure  of  the  wind.  In  earliest  times, 
a  mat  was  hung  over  the  side.  Later  this  was  replaced  by  the  leeboard, 
apparently  a  Dutch  invention,  which  may  still  be  seen  on  the  canal  barges  in 
Holland,  and  which  was  a  feature  of  the  pirogues  or  periaugers  (shallow 
double-ended  sailing-canoes)  that  in  early  times  formed  almost  the  only  type 
of  small  sail-boat  in  New  York  waters.  Two  other  novel,  foreshadowing 
features  possessed  by  Mr.  Stevens'  boat,  were  the  use  of  rubber  compressors 
on  the  traveler  of  the  main  boom  to  ease  the  strain  of  the  sheet  (rubber 
is  applied  in  many  places  about  modern  rigging),  and  the  bolting  of  lead  to 
the  keel  as  outside  ballast. 

The  Maria  justified  the  expectations  aroused  by  these  and  other  novel- 
ties in  hull  and  rig  by  beating  everything  in  existence,  until  a  Swedish 
gentleman  in  New  York  constructed  a  much  smaller  boat,  the  Coquette,  on 
very  different  lines,  for  although  only  sixty-six  feet  long  she  drew  ten  feet 
of  water ;  and  in  a  match  on  the  open  sea  she  beat  the  Maria  easily,  show- 
ing the  superiority  of  the  deep-keeled  model  for  windy  weather. 

Profiting  by  these  experiences  and  widely  gathered  information,  a  new 
designer  essayed  the  task  of  making  a  still  better  yacht.  This  was  George 
Steers,  the  son  of  a  British  naval  captain  and  ship-modeler,  who  had  become 
an  American  naval  officer  and  was  the  first  man  to  take  charge  of  the  Wash- 
ington navy  yard.  He  built  several  graceful  and  fleet-winged  sloops, 
famous  in  their  day,  such  as  the  Julia,   David  Carl's   Grade,   and  many 


IQO  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

pilot-boats  and  ships.  His  most  celebrated  production,  however,  and  the 
one  which  gave  our  yachtsmen  an  international  reputation  and  established 
their  method  of  pursuing  recreation  as  the  foremost  American  sport,  was 
the  America,  from  which  the  "America  Cup"  races  take  origin  and  name. 

The  origin  was  really  accidental.  When  the  first  World's  Fair  was  to 
be  held  at  the  Crystal  Palace  in  London,  one  of  the  attendant  festivities  was 
a  great  national  gathering  of  British  yachts  in  their  favorite  harbor,  Cowes, 
at  which,  it  was  announced,  foreign  yachtsmen  were  to  be  welcome, 
especially  Americans.  In  preparation  for  it,  John  C.  Stevens,  of  Hoboken, 
then  Commodore  of  the  New  York  Yacht-Club,  and  some  of  his  friends, 
ordered  a  new  yacht  from  George  Steers  with  which  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
and  meet  the  English  racers.  This  new  boat,  completed  in  the  spring  of 
1 85 1,  and  named  America,  was  schooner-rigged,  but  had  raking  masts, 
no  topsails  except  a  small  main-gaff,  and  only  one  jib,  whose  foot  was  laced 
to  a  boom.  Such  was  the  style  of  the  day ;  but  later  she  was  changed  in 
rig  so  as  to  carry  far  more  and  bigger  sails,  more  like  those  of  a  modern 
schooner-yacht. 

The  moment  she  arrived  in  Cowes,  in  the  early  summer  of  1851,  her 
superiority  in  speed  was  conceded,  and  no  British  captain  would  consent  to 
meet  her;  but  finally  a  match  was  extemporized,  open  to  all  nations,  for 
which  a  prize  was  offered  in  the  form  of  a  cup  presented  by  the  Royal  Yacht 
Squadron  —  not  by  the  Queen,  as  usually  said.  Fifteen  yachts  responded, 
but  none  showed  what  it  could  do,  for  there  was  little  wind,  and  the  cup 
was  awarded  to  the  America  more  in  general  acknowledgment  of  its  excel- 
lence than  because  of  any  great  performance  there.  Not  much  importance 
was  attached  to  the  incident,  but  the  silver  tankard  was  brought  home  and 
left  to  ornament  Commodore  Stevens'  drawing-room  until  1857,  when  its 
owners  dedicated  it  to  the  purpose  of  a  perpetual  challenge  cup,  in  charge 
of  the  New  York  Yacht-Club,  for  international  races  under  specified  condi- 
tions.    Fifteen  years  elapsed,  however,  before  the  first  contestant  appeared. 

The  America  had  differed  prominently  in  shape  from  all  her  opponents 
at  Cowes,  by  having  fine  hollowed  bows  and  a  wide  stern,  instead  of  the 
bluff  bows  and  narrowing  after  part  —  the  "cod's  head  and  mackerel's  tail" 
pattern  —  of  English  craft;  she  also  had  sails  that  hung  very  flat  instead  of 
bellying  out  under  the  wind  as  was  the  foreign  style.  In  these  directions 
Iiritish  yachtsmen  saw  good,  and  tried  to  improve ;  but  they  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  center-boards,  and  clung  to  their  cutter-rig.  We,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  gained  ideas  as  to  improving  rig,  especially  in  the  schooners, 
and  in  the  bestowal  of  ballast,  outside  and  in. 

At  length,   in   1870,  an  English  schooner,  the  Cambria,  came  over  to 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 


191 


compete  for  the  cup,  and  was  pitted  against  a  fleet  of  crack  yachts  off  Sandy 
Hook ;  but  again  the  wind  was  so  light  that  the  boats  did  little  more  than 
drift.  The  Englishman,  nevertheless,  was  outdrifted  by  nine  others,  and 
the  leader  was  the  little  sloop  Magic,  which  became  the  custodian  of  the 
cup.  The  next  year,  however,  another  challenge  was  received,  and  the 
British  keel-yacht  Livonia  appeared  and  was  defeated  by  the  American 
keel-schooner  Sappho,  which,  under  a  new  rule,  had  won  her  right  to  defend 
the  cup  by  first  beating  in  preparatory  ocean  races  all  other  rivals  for  the 
honor.     As  this  contest  was  between  single  representative  yachts,  tried  in 


FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH   BY  G.  WEST  A  SON,  SOUTHSEA,  ENGLAND. 


"GENESTA,"   «'TARA,"   AND   "IREX"  — THE   BRITISH   TYPE   OF   CUTTER   OF    1884-85. 

"  Galatea,"    1885,   belonged  to  the  same  type. 


five  races,  and  in  all  sorts  of  weather,  it  was  a  fair  and  conclusive  measure 
of  comparative  qualities.  The  next  yacht  to  come  after  the  international 
cup  was  the  Canadian  Countess  of  Dufferin,  which  was  promptly  defeated 
by  the  Magic  in  1876.  Five  years  later  another  Canadian  appeared,  the 
Atalanta,  differing  from  previous  contestants  in  being  a  single-masted  center- 


192  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

board  yacht ;  but  her  rigging  and  finish  were  so  bad  that  her  excellent 
model  could  not  save  her  from  defeat  (1881)  at  the  hands  of  the  elegant 
iron  sloop  Mischief,  which  had  been  built  especially  for  the  race,  and  had 
won  her  foremost  place  through  severe  trial  races,  as  before. 

Up  to  this  time,  as  Mr.  W.  P.  Stephens  tells  us  in  "  The  Century  "  for 
August,  1893,  whence  many  of  the  portraits  of  these  racers  have  been  taken, 
no  pleasure-boats  had  been  built  except  after  the  rule  of  thumb  —  some 
practical  sailor  whittled  out  a  model  according  to  his  ideas,  and  the  builder 
followed  it. 

Systematic  designing  was  unknown,  and  .  .  .  one  type  of  yacht  was  in  general  use,  the 
wide,  shoal  center-board  craft,  with  high  trunk  cabin,  large  open  cockpit,  ballast  all  inside  (and 
of  iron,  or  even  slag  and  stone),  and  a  heavy  and  clumsy  wooden  construction.  Faulty  in  every 
way  as  this  type  has  since  been  proved,  in  the  absence  of  any  different  standard  it  was  considered 
perfect,  and  open  doubts  were  expressed  of  the  patriotism  if  not  the  sanity  of  the  few  American 
yachtsmen  who,  about  1877,  called  into  question  the  merits  of  the  American  center-board  sloop, 
and  pointed  out  the  opposing  qualities  of  the  British  cutter  —  her  non-capsizability,  due  to  the 
use  of  lead  ballast  outside  of  the  hull;  her  speed  in  rough  water;  and  the  superiority  of  her  rig 
both  in  proportions  and  in  mechanical  details. 

A  wordy  warfare  over  these  types  raged  for  several  years,  gaining  strength  with  the  building 
of  the  first  true  English  cutter,  the  Muriel^  in  New  York  in  1878,  and  bearing  good  fruit  a  year 
later  in  the  launching  of  the  Mischief,  an  American  center-board  sloop,  but  modified  in  accor- 
dance with  the  new  theories.  The  plumb  stem,  the  straight  sheer,  and  higher  free-board,  with 
quite  a  shapely  though  short  overhang,  suggested  the  hull  of  the  cutter,  and  though  quite  wide 
—  nearly  twenty  feet  on  sixty-one  feet  water-line  —  she  drew  nearly  six  feet.  Even  with  her 
sloop  rig  she  was  a  marked  departure  from  the  older  boats  of  her  class,  especially  as  she  was 
built  of  iron  in  place  of  wood,  and  consequently  carried  her  ballast,  all  lead,  at  a  very  low  point. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  controversy  was  the  sending  to  this  country, 
from  Scotland,  of  a  little  ten-ton  racing  cutter,  the  Madge,  purely  to  show 
what  capabilities  lay  in  "  a  deep,  narrow,  lead-keeled  craft  with  the  typical 
cutter  rig."  The  only  American  able  to  beat  her  was  the  Shadow,  a  famous 
Herreshoff  sloop  of  unusual  depth,  and  she  did  it  but  once.  Nevertheless, 
the  controversy  was  not  decided  in  the  United  States,  and  the  Britishers 
thought  it  worth  while  to  try  to  give  us  another  lesson.  In  1884  they 
launched  two  big  cutters,  Irex  and  Genesta,  and  in  1885  a  third,  Galatea  ; 
and  Sir  Richard  Sutton,  owner  of  Genesta,  and  Lieutenant  William  Henn, 
R.  X.,  owner  of  Galatea,  challenged  for  the  America  Cup. 

Then  the  question  arose:  What  should  be  done  to  meet  them?  The 
British  cutters  differed  from  those  previously  met,  in  that  they  were  built 
for  racing,  not  for  general  use  —  were  "racing  machines"  instead  of  cruis- 
ing-yachts.  To  meet  this,  a  scientific  designer  of  marine  vessels,  Mr.  A.  Cary 
Smith  of  New  York,  was  called  upon  to  produce  a  moderately  deep,  center- 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 


193 


board,  iron  sloop-yacht  on  the  Hnes  of  the  Mischief,  but  much  larger,  and 
he  produced  the  Priscilla.  But  while  she  was  building  there  was  quietly 
begun  another  yacht,  the  Puritan,  owned  and  built  in  Boston  from  designs 
by  an  almost  unheard-of  architect,  Mr.  Edward  Burgess,  who  previously 
to    this    performance   had  been  renowned    only  as    a   student   of  insects ! 

**  The  stout  oak  keel 
of  the  new  Puritan  was 
laid  upon  a  lead  keel  of 
twenty-seven  tons,  car- 
ried down  into  a  deep 
projecting  keel ;  the 
plumb  stem,  the  sheer, 
and  the  long  counter 
suggested  the  British 
cutter  rather  than  the 
American  sloop ;  the 
draft  of  eight  feet  six 
inches  was  greatly  in 
excess  of  all  of  the  old 
center-board  boats,  and 
the  rig  was  essentially 
that  of  the  cutter  rather 
than  of  the  sloop." 

A  struggle  decided 
that  she  was  better  than 
the  Priscilla,  and  in  the 
cup  races  in  September 
she  proved  herself  bet- 
ter than  the  famous 
English  cutter  Genesta. 

Nevertheless,  when  the  Galatea,  whose  challenge  had  been  postponed 
until  1886,  came  out,  the  Puritan  had  already  been  distanced  by  an  Ameri- 
can rival,  the  Mayflower,  practically  a  larger  copy  of  herself,  as  Galatea 
was  of  Genesta,  and,  therefore,  a  lead-keeled  center-board  boat,  having  a 
cutter-like  rig.  Trial  races  showed  that  the  Mayflower  was  able  to  beat  all 
her  beautiful  predecessors,  and  again  the  British  contestant  was  obliged  to 
take  a  defeat  and  leave  the  prize  in  New  York. 

The  result  of  this  last  contest  (1886)  was  to  cause  British  yachtsmen 
to  abandon  their  old  tonnage  rule  of  measurement  and  adopt  the  far  better 
modern  one  of  load-line  and  sail-area  measurement.      Another  challenge 


THE   CUTTER   "MURIEL,"   SHOWING   THE    ENGLISH 
DEEP-DRAFT  TYPE    OF   BUILD   AND   RIG. 


194 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


immediately  came  from  Glasgow,  supported  by  a  boat  named  Thisthy 
built  under  the  new  rule ;  and  to  oppose  it  Mr.  Burgess  built  the  Vohinteer, 
which  differed  from  its  predecessors  mainly  in  increased  draft  and  tendency 

toward  the  cutter  model. 
She  easily  beat  the  Thistle, 
and  the  discouraged  foreign- 
ers rested  for  some  years 
before  trying  again  to  wrest 
from  us  the  coveted  trophy. 
In   1 89 1,  however,  there 


FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS   BY  J.   S.  JOHNSTON  AND   PURVIANCE. 


MAYFLOWER." 


came  to  New  York,  from 
the  yards  of  the  Herreshoff 
Brothers,  in  Rhode  Island, 
a  new  forty- six- foot  yacht, 
which  soon  put  the  fame 
of  the  Volunteer  and  all 
her  glorious  rivals  into  the 

background.  This  was  the  GloiHana,  "remarkable  as  a  daring  and  original 
departure  from  the  accepted  theories."  The  radical  novelty  in  her  form  con- 
sisted in  the  great  cutting  away  of  her  bulk  under  water  while  preserving 
the  full  extent  of  the  water-line,  and  the  making  of  a  very  deep,  heavily 
loaded  keel,  trusted  for  stability.  Her  hull  was  also  novel,  consisting  of  a 
double  skin  of  thin  wood  on  steel  frames,  while  the  upper  part  of  the  hull 
projected  excessively  at  both  ends.  She  was  everywhere  a  winner,  and  was 
immediately  followed  by  a  smaller  boat,  the  Dilemma,  whose  keel  was  an 
almost  rectangular  plate  of  steel,  the  ballast,  which  alone  was  trusted  for 
stability,  being  in  the  form  of  a  cigar-shaped  cylinder  of  lead  bolted  to  the 
lower  edge  of  the  "  fin,"  as  this  kind  of  keel  was  appropriately  styled.  Many 
boats  of  this  pattern  were  soon  afloat,  most  of  them  highly  successful  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  carrying  a  surprising  spread  of  canvas. 

The  year  1893  brought  another  challenge  for  the  cup  in  the  person  of 
Lord  Dunraven,  sailing  the  yacht  Valkyrie,  but  he  was  met  by  a  new,  well- 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 


195 


proved  Herreshoff  fin-keel,  the  Vigilant  (built  of  a  new  alloy  —  Tobin 
bronze),  and  handsomely  defeated.  The  following  season  the  Vigilant 
went  to  England,  and  found  herself  equally  overmatched  by  the  Britannia, 
owned  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  while  Valkyrie  II  wdiS  wrecked.  In  1895 
Lord  Dunraven  sent  a  second  challenge,  backed  by  a  new  Valkyrie  (///)  ; 
and  this  produced  a  fresh  American  contestant,  again  designed  and  built  by 
the  Herreshoffs,  named  Defender.  The  races  came  off  amid  intense  public 
excitement,  outside  of  Sandy  Hook,  but  were  most  unsatisfactory;  "in  the 
first,  Defender  won  ;  in  the  second,  Valkyrie  was  disqualified  as  the  result 
of  a  foul,  and  Lord  Dunraven  declined  to  sail  a  third." 

Such  has  been  the  history  of  this  long  series  of  races  for  the  America 
Cup,  and  such  the  development  of  its  defenders ;  but  while  they  and  their 


J ^- 


J L 


COMPARISON   OF   OLD   AND   NEW   TYPES. 

1.  "America,"  1851,  water-line  90  feet.  — 2.  "  Cambria,"  1868,  water-line  100  feet.  — 3.  "  Magic,"  1857-69,  water-line  79  feet. — 
4.  "  Sappho,"  1867,  water-line  120  feet. —  5.  "  Mischief,"  1879,  water-line  61  feet. —  6.  "  Puritan,"  1885,  water-line  81 
feet.— 7.  "  Genesta,"  1884,  water-line  81  feet.— 8.  "Thistle,"  1887,  water-line  86  feet. — 9.  "Volunteer," 
1887,  water-line  85  feet. — 10.  "  Gloriana,"  iSgi,  water-line  45  feet. —  11.  "  Wasp,"  1892,  water- 
line  46  feet. —  12.  "  El  Chico,"  1892,  water-line  25  feet. 

work  have  stimulated  interest  in  yachting  all  over  the  world,  they  have  really 
not  influenced  it  greatly,  because  all  of  the  later  boats  competing  were  not 
practical  yachts,  in  which  one  might  cruise  and  live  afloat,  and  enjoy  life 
with  his  friends,  but  "  machines  "  in  which   every  quality  tending  to  comfort 


196 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


and  safety  was  sacrificed  to  the  requirements  of  speed.  In  fact,  the  owners 
of  these  "  big  boats  "  kept  small,  handy,  comfortable  yachts  for  their  own 
enjoyment,  and  the  racers  were  as  a  rule  sailed  by  a  skipper  and  crew  of 
professional  racing  sailors. 

There  are  said  to  be  over  two  hundred  yacht-clubs  in  the  United  States, 
enrolling  about  four  thousand  yachts,  an  eighth  of  which  are  steam  or  elec- 
tric boats,  scattered  wherever  any  water 
suitable  for  the  sport  exists.  With  the 
lakes  and  rivers  we  have  nothing  to 
do,  except  to  say  that  the  yachtsmen 
of  Montreal  and  Quebec  are  really 
salt-water  sailors,  for  they  cruise  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  elsewhere  at 
sea  as  well  as  their  fellow-sportsmen 
of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia. 
At  the  other  extreme  the  Havana 
Yacht-Club  has  American  members 
who  take  their  boats  to  the  West  Indies 
every  winter.  Bermuda  is  another  fa- 
vorite resort,  and  the  scene  of  lively  races 
with  a  local,  narrow  sort  of  craft,  called 
a  "  flyer,"  which  will  beat  almost  any- 
thing if  only  it  can  be  kept  right  side  up. 


DRAWN    BY   I 


PH  BY  WALTCH    BLACKBURN. 


THE  NEWPORT  CATBOAT.  On  the  Pacific  coast,   .   .   .   wherever  there 

is  a  bay  that  will  afford  a  harbor,  and  a  town  that 
will  support  people,  the  yacht  is  used  as  a  vehicle  of  pleasure.  .  .  .  Many  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco boats  are  large  schooners,  a  number  are  powerful  sea-going  sloops,  while  of  smaller  craft 
there  is  an  abundance  of  almost  every  type,  although  the  New  York  catboat  and  the  flat-bot- 
tomed sharpie  of  Long  Island  Sound  are  seldom  met  with,  and  seem  not  to  be  in  favor.  .  .  . 
Pacific  yachters  appreciate  the  good  points  of  the  yawl,  for  the  squalls  which  blow  over  the 
waters  of  the  west  coast  are  sudden  and  severe,  and  no  rig  meets  these  conditions  of  weather 
so  well  as  does  the  yawl. 


The  most  important  and  numerous  yachting  interest  of  the  country,  how- 
ever, as  would  be  expected,  is  along  the  northeastern  seaboard,  where, 
measured  by  numbers  and  the  investment  in  boats,  wharves,  club-houses,  and 
equipments  generally,  it  surpasses  any  other  district  in  the  world.  More 
than  one  hundred  clubs  exist  between  Maine  and  Philadelphia. 

The  earliest  form  of  yacht  [as  Mr.  F.  W.  Pangbom  reminds  us  in  "  The  Century"  for  May, 
1S92]  was.  of  course,  a  rowboat  with  a  sail.  .  .  .  From  the  primitive  sprit-sail  pleasure-boat 
comes  tlie  ever-present  and  universally  favored  center-board  catboat,  a  type  of  yacht  which,  for 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 


197 


RIG   OF   THE   YAWL. 


speed,  handiness,  and  unsafeness,  has  never 
been  surpassed.  Keel  catboats  are  also  built, 
but  the  typical  American  "  cat "  is  the  center- 
board  boat  of  light  draft,  big  beam,  and  huge 
sail.  The  two  objectionable  points  about  boats 
of  this  class  are  their  capsizability,  and  their 
bad  habit  of  yawing  when  sailing  before  the 
wind.  Yet  the  cat  is  the  handiest  light- 
weather  boat  made.  It  is  very  fast,  quick  in 
stays,  and  simple  in  rig;  but  it  can  never 
become  a  first-class  seaworthy  type  of  yacht. 
It  belongs  among  the  fair-weather  pleasure- 
boats.  .  .  . 

P>om  the  center-board  catboat  grew  the 
jib-and-mainsail  sloop,  a  type  of  yacht  which 
has  always  been  noted  for  its  great  speed  and 
general  unhandiness.  Small  yachts  of  this 
kind  are  always  racers,  and  the  interest  in  racing  is  sufficient  to  keep  them  in  the  lists  of  popular 
boats.  In  design  they  are  like  the  catboats,  the  only  difference  being  in  their  rig.  These  two 
boats,  the  center-board  cat  and  the  jib-and-mainsail  sloop,  are  what  yachters  call  "sandbag- 
gers  "  ;  that  is  to  "say,  their  ballast  consists  of  bags  of  sand  which  are  shifted  to  windward 
with  every  tack  and  thus  serve  to  keep  the  yachts  right  side  up.  A  boat  ballasted  in  this 
manner  can  carry  more  sail  than  rightly  belongs  on  her  sticks,  but  she  cannot  be  very  safe 
or  comfortable.  Her  place  is  in  the  regatta.  It  is  not  beyond  the  truth  to  assert  that  the 
sandbaggers  constitute  probably  two  fifths  of  the  total  of  small  yachts.  They  will  never 
cease  to  be  popular,  for  the  reason  that  speed  and  sport  are  synonymous  terms  with  a  great 
many  yachters,  and  no  one  can  deny  that  these  boats,  like  Brother  Jasper's  sun,  "  do  move." 

Passing  the  sandbaggers,  the  next 
popular  and  most  universally  used  yacht 
is  the  ballasted  sloop.  A  sloop  may  be 
a  center-board  boat,  or  a  keel  boat,  or  a 
combination  of  both.  She  has  only  one 
mast  and  carries  a  topmast.  Her  sails 
are  many,  and,  like  the  cutter,  she  is 
permitted  to  carry  clouds  of  canvas  in 
a  race.  Technically  speaking,  a  cutter 
differs  from  a  sloop  only  in  one  point, 
as  the  terms  "  sloop  "  and  "  cutter  "  really 
apply  to  the  rig  of  the  yacht.  The  cut-  ^ 
ter  has  a  sail  set  from  her  stem  to  her 
masthead ;  the  sloop  has  not.  This  sail 
is  called  a  forestay-sail,  and  its  presence 
marks  the  cutter-rig.  The  term  "  cut- 
ter," however,  is  usually  applied  to  the 
long,  narrow,  deep-keeled  vessel,  and 
has  in  common  parlance  grown  to  mean 
a  boat  of  that  type.  It  is  in  that  sense 
that  it  is  generally  understood.      It  is         ■"»*"  ^v  w.  tabeh,  from 


PHOTOGRAPH  BY  WALTER   BLACKBURN.        ENGRAVED  BY  A.  NEGRI. 


worthy  of  notice  that  nearly  all  yachters 
13* 


A  SANDBAGGER   SLOOP. 


198 


THE    BOOK    OF   THE    OCEAN 


A  SHARPIE. 


who  cruise  about  in  summer,  and  especially  those 
who  are  fond  of  speedy  boats,  use  either  sloops  or 
cutters ;  and  it  is  remarkable  to  see  how  much  com- 
fort can  be  found  in  boats  of  these  types,  even  when 
quite  small.  .  .  . 

The  average  yachting  man,  if  he  be  of  that  stuff 
of  which  good  seamen  are  made,  soon  finds  his  chief 
delight  in  being  master  of  his  own  vessel.    He  likes 
to  feel  that  it  is  his  skill,  his  prowess,  his  intellect,  that 
rule  the  ship  in  which  he  sails ;  and  finding  this 
complete  mastery  of  the  vessel  to  be  impossible 
aboard  a  big  boat,  he  longs  for  one  which  he  can 
handle  alone.     This  independent  and  sportsman- 
like instinct  of  the  American  yachter  has  culmi- 
nated in  a  liking  for  certain  classes  of  very  small  boats, —  "  single-handers  "  they  are  called, — and 
this  Uking  has  given  impetus  to  the  building  of  some  Uttle  vessels  which  are  really  marvels  in 
their  way.    Simplicity  and  handiness  of  rig  have  been 
considered  in  their  construction,  and  this  has  led  in 
many  cases  to  the  adoption  of  what  is  known  as  the 
yawl  style,  a  rig  which  for  safety  and  convenience 
has  never  been  surpassed  by  any  other.     The  yawl 
is  really  a  schooner  with  very  small  mainsail.     For 
small  cruising-yachts  it  is  an  excellent  rig,  and  pref- 
erable to  the  cat  rig.      Cat-yawls  are  also  in  use ; 
they  are  merely  yawls  without  jibs.    With  such  rigs 
as  these  a  yachter  can  go  alone  upon  the  water  with- 
out fear  of  trouble  and  with  no  need  of  assistance. 
Naturally,  with  men  of  moderate  means  who  love 
the  water,  these  small  single-handers  have  become 
very  popular.     Some  of  them  are  not  over  sixteen 
feet  long,  yet  the  solitary  skipper-crew-and-cook,  all 

in  one,  of  such  a  boat  finds  in  his  yacht  comfortable  sleeping-quarters,  cook-stove,  dinner-table, 

and  all  necessary  "  fixings."  The  ingenuity  dis- 
played in  fitting  out  the  cabins  of  these  little 
boats  is  quite  remarkable. 

Of  the  many  nondescript  rigs  which  are  ap- 
plied to  small  yachts,  two  are  in  common  use. 
One  of  these  is  the  sharpie,  a  simple  leg-o'-mut- 
ton  rig  used  with  flat-bottomed  boats.  Large 
sharpies  have  been  built  with  fine  cabin  accom- 
modations, and  such  boats  are  particularly  adapted 
to  the  shoal  waters  of  the  South.  They  are  fast 
sailers,  but.  owing  to  their  long,  narrow  bodies 
and  hght  draft,  are  not  always  trustworthy. 
They  are  cheaper  to  build  than  boats  of  other 
designs.  ...  '^ 

Buckeyes   are   favored  only  in  the  South. 
Originally  the  buckeye  was  a  log  hollowed  out 
OLD-STYLE   PIROGUE  WITH   LEEBOARD.       and  shaped  into  a  boat,  and  was  used  by  the 


A   BUCKEYE. 


YACHTING    AND    PLEASURE-BOATING 


199 


negroes.  To-day,  however,  buckeyes  are  built  upon  carefully  drawn  plans,  and  many  of  them 
are  excellent  vessels.  They  are  common  on  the  coast  waters  south  of  the  Delaware  Bay,  and 
are  used  chiefly  for  hunting-boats,  their  cheapness,  handiness,  and  roominess  rendering  them 
useful  to  the  sportsman.  A  true  buckeye  is  a  double-ender,  but  some  large  ones  have  been 
built  with  an  overhang  stern,  which  destroys  the  ideal  and  creates  a  new  kind  of  craft. 

A  few  years  ago  the  sailing  public  was  surprised  by  the  appearance  upon  the  waters  of  a 
spider-like  contrivance  which  its  friends  said  was  a  "  catamaran."  This  new  claimant  for  yacht- 
ing favor  was  like  the  raft  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders  only  in  name;  in  fact,  it  was  not  a 
catamaran  at  all,  but  a  new  device  for  racing  over  the  water  by  means  of  sails.  Wonderful  feats 
were  predicted  for  the  future  of  the  catamaran,  and  it  certainly  did  accomplish  something ;  but 
after  a  long  and  fair  trial  (for  the  yachter,  no  matter  how  bigoted  he  may  be,  will  always  try  a 
new  boat)  it  was  discarded  as  a  useless,  dangerous,  and  decidedly  unsatisfactory  kind  of  craft.  .  .  . 

Leaving  the  discussion  of  the  odds  and  ends  of  yacht  styles,  we  come,  by  natural  progress, 
to  a  type  which  is  destined  to  greater  popularity  as  time  goes  on,  and  yachters  learn  the  ways 
of  the  sea  and  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with  them.  Although  the  schooner  is  generally 
deemed  a  big  yacht,  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  small  schooners  are  desirable  boats  to  have, 
and  that  the  number  of  schooners  of  small  tonnage  is  increasing.  There  is  no  denying  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  schooner's  rig  over  that  of  the  sloop.  A  schooner  of  forty  feet  is  handier,  safer, 
and  less  expensive  to  run  than  a  forty-foot  sloop.  The  rig  of  the  schooner  is  peculiarly  adapted 
to  all  weathers,  and  a  small  crew  can  handle  such  a  vessel  with  ease,  when  to  manage  a  sloop 
of  equal  size  would  require  the  best  efforts  of  "  all  hands  and  the  cook."  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  the  schooner's  sails  can  be  attended  to  one  at  a  time,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  big- 
mainsail  sloop. 

It  is  the  small  yachter  [Mr.  Pangbom  declares  in  conclusion]  who  gives  to  the  sport  its 
wide  popularity,  and  makes  yachting  so  universally  loved  by  men  who  are  fond  of  aquatic 
pleasuring.  The  small  yachter  is  everywhere  upon  the  waters.  From  the  coast  of  Maine,  from 
the  shores  of  the  harbor  of  the  Golden  Gate,  from  the  beaches  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and 
from  the  borders  of  the  inland  lakes,  he  can  be  seen,  all  summer  long,  sailing  about  in  his  little 
vessel,  and  enjoying  in  all  its  fullness  the  excitement  and  delight  of  this  most  noble  and  health- 
giving  sport.  With  a  pluck  and  energy  that  mark  the  true  lover  of  the  sea,  and  a  tact  and  skill 
that  bespeak  the  real  sailor,  he  handles  his  little  craft,  in  fair  weather  and  in  foul,  in  a  manner 
that  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  its  fitness  for  the  work  which  he  is  doing;  for,  whether  he 
sail  alone,  or  with  the  help  of  his  friends,  or  that  of  a  hired  man  to  run  his  boat,  he  is  always  the 
master  of  his  vessel, —  which  is  seldom  the  case  with  the  proprietor  of  the  big  boat, —  and  is  in 
reality  a  "  yachtsman  "  under  all  circumstances,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  weathers.  He  must  be 
cool-headed  and  calm  in  times  of  peril,  affable  and  courteous  on  all  social  occasions,  and  gener- 
ous and  prompt  to  respond  to  all  calls  upon  his  courage  —  in  brief,  a  gentleman. 


FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH  BY  WALTER  BLACKBURN. 


YACHTS  WAITING   FOR  A   BREEZE. 


THE   "ADLER"    PLUNGING   TOWARD   THE    REEF   AT   SAMOA. 


CHAPTER   X 

DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 

EITHER  ships  of  the  stanchest  steel,  nor  seamen  however 
skilful,  nor  pilots  never  so  knowing,  can  wholly  avoid  the 
dangers  of  a  seafaring  life.  Experience  in  reading  the  signs 
of  the  ocean  and  of  the  skies,  surveyors'  charts  of  coasts  and 
harbors,  added  to  the  appliances  of  powerful  modern  machin- 
ery, have  lessened  the  perils,  it  is  true,  since  the  old  times ;  yet  even  now  ships 
sail  proudly  out  of  sunny  havens,  their  topsails  watched  by  loving  eyes  till 
they  disappear  at  sunset,  and  are  never  seen  again.  On  a  calm  day  in  1 782 
the  great  hundred-gun  line-of-battle-ship  Royal  George  sank  at  her  anchors 
in  the  harbor  of  Spithead,  carrying  down  almost  a  thousand  souls ;  thirty 
years  ago  the  Captain,  then  one  of  the  finest  of  England's  steam  turret- 
ships,  capsized  at  sea,  and  not  a  man  survived.  Each  of  these  vessels  was 
perhaps  the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  No  better  navigators  exist  than 
naval  officers,  yet  they  ran  the  historic  old  steam-frigate  Kearsarge  on  Ron- 
cador  Reef,  in  the  Caribbean  Sea,  in  broad  daylight,  and  left  her  there  a 
total  wreck.  Not  a  year  passes  that  does  not  record  some  dire  calamity  on 
the  ocean,  and  many  lesser  accidents. 

The  wild  oceanic  storms  are  responsible  for  fewer  of  these  than  anything 
else  —  I  mean  the  mere  power  of  wind  and  waves  in  the  open  sea.  When  a 
captain  has  sea-room,  and  knows  in  advance,  as  he  almost  always  may,  of 
the  coming  of  a  storm,  so  that  he  can  make  everything  snug,  the  loss  of  his 
vessel,  or  even  serious  damage  to  her,  is  not  common.  Yet  the  mere  vio- 
lence of  the  gale  has  overturned,  beaten  down,  and  extinguished  the  greater 
part  of  the  Newfoundland  fishing-fleet  again  and  again,  and  doubtless  many 
of  the  ships  that  are  recorded  as  "missing"  have  been  sunk  simply  by  over- 
whelming waves. 

Certain  rare  and  extraordinary  mishaps  nevertheless  may  meet  a  vessel 
in  the  open  ocean.  One  of  these  is  a  stroke  of  lightning,  powerful  enough 
to  set  a  ship  on  fire  in  spite  of  her  lightning-rods,  and  such  a  fire  is  likely 


202 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


never  to  be  quenched.  Another  extraordinary  occurrence  would  be  an  over- 
whelming waterspout,  such  as  not  infrequently  is  seen  in  the  tropics,  espe- 
cially along  the  Chinese  coast,  where  it  often  plays  havoc  with  fishing  junks. 
A  third  unusual,  yet  possible,  peril  is  the  meeting  with  those  waves  of 
sudden  and  extraordinary  size  and  volume  which  sometimes  engulf  vessels  in 
storms  that  otherwise  might  be  safely  weathered,  or  are  surmounted  only  by 
a  miracle,  as  it  were.  These  are  said  to  be  produced  in  some  cyclones,  as 
one  of  the  effects  of  that  whirling  form  of  storm,  and  are  often  called  tidal 
waves,  but  the  tide  has  nothing  to  do  with  their  formation  or  progress. 


THE   U.  S.  S.  "ONEIDA"   AFlER   COLLISION   WITH   A   STEAMSHIP. 


To  say  that  a  ship  in  mid-ocean  might  be  destroyed  by  an  earthquake 
seems  paradoxical  and  absurd,  yet  it  is  true.  Whenever  a  subterranean 
convulsion  occurs  beneath  or  at  the  edge  of  the  sea,  the  water  will  be  agi- 
tated in  proportion  to  its  force.  Strike  a  tub  of  water  a  gentle  tap  and  see 
how  its  liquid  contents  shiver  and  ripple.  Watch  a  railway  train  running 
at  the  edge  of  a  body  of  water,  and  observe  how  the  water  trembles  under 
the  percussion  of  the  wheels  upon  the  ground. 

Earthquake  shocks  give  rise  sometimes  to  great  disturbances,  either  by 
a  direct  jar  to  the  water,  or  by  setting  in  motion  waves  whose  rolling  does 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP  2O3 

damage,  especially  in  confined  harbors.  Sometimes  a  port  will  be  suddenly 
invaded  by  a  wave,  the  cause  of  which  was  an  earthquake,  which  rolls  in 
upreared  like  a  wall,  and  carries  death  and  destruction  in  its  course.  The 
principal  port  of  the  island  of  St.  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies,  was  once 
devastated  by  this  means.  The  incoming  wave  is  said  to  have  been  over 
forty  feet  high,  and  broke  inland,  destroying  much  property  and  causing 
many  deaths.  "  So  tremendous  was  this  breaker  that  it  landed  a  large 
vessel  on  a  hillside  half  a  mile  from  the  harbor." 

Such  catastrophes  are  not  uncommon  in  volcanic  districts,  where  the 
ocean  retorts  with  terrible  vengeance  when  it  is  struck  by  the  land.  That 
appalling  explosion  in  1883  of  Krakatoa,  in  the  Strait  of  Sunda,  was  fol- 
lowed on  neighboring  coasts  by  a  series  of  vast  billows  that  rolled  inland, 
deluging  a  wide  extent  of  shore,  sweeping  away  over  150  villages,  and 
crushing  or  drowning  more  than  30,000  persons.  Within  a  few  years  the 
coasts  of  northern  Japan  have  been  inundated  repeatedly  by  earthquake 
waves  wath  similar  dire  calamities,  and  they  are  likely  to  occur  again.  Now 
and  then  earthquakes  are  felt  even  in  the  open  sea,  far  from  land.  Thus, 
Captain  Lecky,  a  scientific  writer  upon  the  sea,  tells  us  that  in  one  instance 
where  he  was  present,  the  inkstand  upon  the  captain's  table  was  jerked 
upward  against  the  ceiling,  where  it  left  an  unmistakable  record  of  the 
occurrence ;  and  yet  this  vessel  was  steaming  along  in  smooth  water,  many 
hundreds  of  fathoms  deep.  "  The  concussions,"  he  says,  "  were  so  smart  that 
passengers  were  shaken  off  their  seats,  and,  of  course,  thought  that  the  ves- 
sel had  run  ashore."  All  this  disturbance  was,  nevertheless,  only  the  result 
of  a  shock  at  the  bottom;  and  when  the  non-elastic  nature  of  water  is  con- 
sidered, the  severity  of  the  jar  is  not  surprising. 

It  would  seem  as  though  in  the  vast  breadth  of  the  "world  of  waters," 
and  with  nothing  to  obstruct  the  view,  two  ships  might  easily  give  one 
another  a  wide  berth ;  yet  a  collision  is  one  of  the  ever-present  dangers  of 
voyaging,  even  far  from  land.  It  is  to  avoid  this  peril  that  all  the  maritime 
nations  have  agreed  upon  certain  signals,  and  "rules  of  the  road  "  which  are 
the  same  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  without  which  it  would  now  be  almost 
impossible  to  carry  on  commerce  or  travel  on  the  water. 

The  rules  of  the  road  say  that  when  two  vessels  are  approaching  one 
another,  head  on,  each  shall  turn  off  to  the  right  far  enough  to  avoid  the 
other ;  that  when  two  vessels  are  crossing  one  another's  courses,  the  one 
which  has  the  other  on  her  starboard  (right  hand)  must  turn  to  starboard 
(the  right),  and  go  behind  the  other  vessel,  while  the  latter  continues  along 
her  course ;  and  that  a  steam  vessel  must  always  get  out  of  the  way  of  a 
sailing  vessel,  one  at  anchor  or  disabled,  or  a  vessel  with  another  in  tow. 


204  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

It  is  presumed  that  every  ship  will  keep  a  sharp  lookout,  and  that  in  the 
daytime  two  approaching  ships  will  see  each  other  in  time  to  keep  safely 
apart;  but  in  the  darkness  of  night  none  could  be  safe  unless  all  carried 
lights  by  which  the  position  and  character  of  each  could  be  determined. 

In  ancient  times  this  matter  of  lights  at  sea  was  a  much  more  trouble- 
some one  than  now.  We  know  that  the  Roman  navy  managed  it  somehow, 
and  had  methods  of  signaling  by  lanterns  and  torches.  In  medieval  and 
early  times,  say  up  to  a  couple  of  centuries  ago,  a  ship's  lights  were  a  much 
more  conspicuous  and  bothersome  part  of  her  than  now,  when,  indeed, 
electricity  has  simplified  as  well  as  perfected  signaling  as  much  as  it  has 
benefited  general  illumination  on  ship's  board.  In  such  ships  as  those  of 
the  Armada,  and  long  afterward,  three  huge  lanterns  made  of  ornamental 
iron-work,  sometimes  large  enough  to  enable  a  man  to  move  about  inside 
them,  surmounted  the  elevated  after-quarter;  and  these  were  filled  with 
dozens  of  great  candles.  How  important  candles  were  in  the  stores  of  one 
of  these  old  ships  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  we  still  call  a  merchant  who 
outfits  vessels  a  ship-chandler.  Regular  rules  were  formulated  for  judging 
of  a  ship's  position  and  movements,  and  how  you  ought  to  steer  by  the  way 
these  beacons  grouped  themselves.  The  introduction  of  whale  oil  gradually 
superseded  candles  and  as  the  sperm-lamp  did  not  require  a  glass  house, 
smaller  lanterns  took  the  place  of  the  big  ones,  until  finally,  by  aid  of  lenses, 
reflectors,  and  kerosene,  and  still  more  lately  by  the  use  of  electricity,  ship's 
lights  have  become  the  small,  handy,  and  powerful  ones  they  are  to-day. 

The  present  rules  as  to  lights  are  these  —  using  the  language  of  a 
United  States  navy  officer,  Lieut.  John  M.  Ellicott,  who  has  written  many 
instructive  and  entertaining  essays  on  sea-affairs : 

When  you  face  toward  a  ship's  bow  the  side  at  your  right  hand  is  called  the  starboard  side, 
and  the  side  at  your  left  hand  is  called  the  port  side.  On  her  starboard  side  a  ship  carries  at 
night  a  green  light,  and  it  is  so  shut  in  by  the  two  sides  of  a  box  that  it  cannot  be  seen  from  the 
port  side  or  from  behind.  On  her  port  side  she  carries  a  red  light,  and  it  is  so  shut  in  that  it 
cannot  be  seen  from  the  port  side  or  from  behind.  If  the  ship  is  a  steamship  she  carries  a  big 
wliite  light  at  her  foremast-head,  but  if  she  is  a  sailing  vessel  she  does  not.  This  white  masthead 
light  can  be  seen  from  all  around  except  from  behind.  .  .  . 

It  is  for  the  red  and  green  lights,  commonly  known  as  the  side  lights,  that  the  officer  of  the 
deck  most  intently  watches  (when  the  lookout  warns  him  that  lights  are  in  sight),  for  by  them  he 
can  tell  which  way  the  vessel  is  going.  If  her  red  light  shows,  he  knows  that  her  port  side  is 
toward  him  and  she  is  crossing  to  his  left;  if  it  is  her  green  light,  her  starboard  side  is  toward 
him  and  she  is  crossing  to  his  right ;  but  if  both  the  red  and  green  are  showing,  she  is  heading 
straight  in  his  direction.  ...  If  a  vessel  has  another  vessel  in  tow,  she  carries  two  masthead 
lights  instead  of  one  ;  and  when  a  vessel  is  at  anchor  she  has  no  side  lights  or  masthead  light, 
but  a  single  white  light  made  fast  to  a  stay  where  it  can  be  seen  from  all  around  her. 

In  rivers  and  crowded  harbors  it  is  often  impossible  to  follow  the  rules  of  the  road;  and 


DANGERS    OF   THE    DEEP. 


205 


sometimes  even  at  sea  the  officer  of  the  deck  of  one  vessel  discovers  that  the  other  is  not  heeding^ 
the  rules.  Then  the  steam-whistle  is  used  to  tell  the  other  vessel  what  the  first  is  doing.  Thus, 
one  whistle  means  "  I  am  going  to  the  right " ;  two  whistles  mean  "  I  am  going  to  the  left " ; 
and  three  whistles  mean  "  I  am  backing  " ;  while  a  series  of  short  toots  means  "  Look  out  for 
yourself;  get  out  of  the  way !  " 

There  is  one  class  of  vessels  which  is  most  annoying  to  those  who  direct  the  course  of  large 
steamers.  These  are  small  fishing-vessels.  On  the  Grand  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  on  the 
coast  of  Spain,  and  on  the  coasts  of  China  and  Japan  big  fleets  of  these  Httle  vessels  are  found  at 


ELECTRIC-LIGHT   SIGNALS  AT   SEA:    ARDOIS   SYSTEM. 


all  times.  They  show  no  lights  at  night,  preferring  to  save  the  expense  of  oil,  and  take  their 
chances  of  being  sent  to  the  bottom ;  but  when  they  see  a  big  ship  rushing  down  upon  them, 
they  light  a  torch  and  flare  it  about.  Often  they  pay  for  their  folly  with  their  lives.  The  torch 
is  seen  too  late,  or  not  seen  at  all,  and  the  great  iron  bow  of  the  steamship  crushes  into  the  frail 
little  craft,  perhaps  cutting  her  clean  in  two ;  and  the  unhappy  fishermen  sink  into  the  foaming 
wake  of  the  churning  propellers,  leaving  not  a  soul  to  tell  their  wives  what  became  of  them. 

Signaling  with  lights  is  principally  of  use  to  men-of-war,  where,  also, 
lanterns  hung  in  the  rigging  in  a  particular  order  have  a  definite  significance. 
For  long-distance  signaling  the  best  system  is  that  invented  by  Lieutenant 
Very,  U.  S.  N.     These  night-signals  "consist  of  a  white,  a  red,  and  a  green 


2o6 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Star,  each  fired  into  the  air  from  a  pistol,  so  that  by  firing  one,  two,  or  three 
of  them  in  quick  succession  and  in  different  orders,  with  a  pause  between  the 
groups,  different  letters  or  signal  numbers  can  be  made  until  a  sentence  is 
complete."     They  can  be  easily  read  from  vessels  twelve  miles  away.     For 

nearer  work  the  system  of  the  Span- 
ish navy  officer,  Ardois,  which  con- 
sists in  flashing  and  extinguishing,  by 
means  of  a  switchboard  on  deck,  a 
series  of  red  and  white  electric  lamps 
in  the  rigging,  serves  very  well ;  and 
close  at  hand  a  signal-man  waves  an 
incandescent  electric  bulb  by  night 
as  he  would  a  flag  by  day. 

It  is,  however,  when  the  land  is 
approached  that  the  sailor's  perils 
become  menacing.  Here  Old  Nep- 
tune is  still  a  match  for  us  when  he 
asserts  himself.  Nevertheless,  we 
must  go  upon  the  restless  waters, 
and  must  risk  a  contest  with  their 
power  along  the  coasts,  where  the 
ocean's  line  of  battle  may  be  said  to 
be.  Therefore,  every  effort  has  al- 
ways been  made  by  men  on  land  to 
be  of  aid  to  their  brethren  at  sea  by 
erecting  beacons  to  guide  them  by 
night  as  well  as  by  day,  by  marking 
the  channels,  so  that  hidden  shoals, 
rocks,  and  obstructions  may  be 
avoided,  and  by  contrivances  to  save 
life  and  property  when  the  fury  of 
the  gale  renders  seamanship  futile, 
and  the  noble  ship  is  cast  away  in 
the  surf  thundering  on  some  wild 
shore,  to  break  up  in  a  few  hours. 
What  could  be  more  humiliating 
to  our  pride,  as  well  as  terrifying  to  our  hearts,  than  such  a  scene  as  that  at 
Samoa,  in  1889,  when  a  whole  fleet  of  ships,  including  powerful  men-of-war, 
was  wrecked  while  at  anchor  in  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Apia.  Of  small 
use,  then,  were  all  their  charts  and  lighthouses,  buoys  and  breakwaters ! 


THE   -'VERV"    RUCKET-SIGNAL   AT    SEA, 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP. 


207 


The  disturbed  state  of  affairs  in 
Samoa  caused  the  assemblage  there, 
during  March,  1889,  of  three  small 
German  men-of-war,  Adler,  Olga, 
and  Bber,  the  British  corv^ette  Cal- 
liope, and  the  American  steamships 
Trenton,  Vandalia2iwANipsic.  The 
Trento7i,  Captain  Farquhar,  was  one 
of  our  largest  war-ships  at  that  time, 
and  the  flagship  of  Rear-Admiral 
Kimberley ;  the  Vandalia,  Cap- 
tain Schoonmaker,  was  somewhat 
smaller,  and  the  Nipsic,  Comman- 
der Mullan,  was  still  less  in  size. 
On  March  15  a  hurricane  demol- 
ished the  whole  of  this  fleet,  except 
one,  and  ten  merchant  vessels  be- 
sides, and  caused  the  loss  of  nearly- 
one  hundred  and  fifty  lives.  It  is  an  extraordinary  story,  which  has  been 
fully  related  by  Mr.  John  P.  Dunning,  from  whose  article  in  "St.  Nicholas" 
for  February,  1890,  the  accompanying  facts  and  illustrations  are  drawn. 


THE   "CALLIOPE"    ESCAPING   FROM   APIA 
HARBOR. 


The  harbor  in  which  the  disaster  occurred  is  a  small  semicircular  bay,  around  the  inner 
side  of  which  lies  the  town  of  Apia.  A  coral  reef,  visible  at  low  water,  extends  in  front  of  the 
harbor  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  extremity,  a  distance  of  nearly  two  miles.  A  break  in 
this  reef,  probably  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  forms  a  gateway  to  the  harbor.  The  space  within 
the  bay  where  ships  can  lie  at  anchor  is  very  small,  as  a  shoal  extends  some  distance  out  from  the 
eastern  shore,  and  on  the  other  side  another  coral  reef  runs  well  out  into  the  bay.  The  war- 
vessels  were  anchored  in  the  deep  water  in  front  of  the  American  consulate.  The  Eber  and 
Nipsic  were  nearest  the  shore.  There  were  ten  or  twelve  sailing-vessels,  principally  small 
schooners  lying  in  the  shallow  water  west  of  the  men-of-war.  The  storm  was  preceded  by 
several  weeks  of  bad  weather^  and  on  Friday,  March  15,  the  wind  increased  and  there  was  every 
indication  of  a  hard  blow.  The  war-ships  made  preparation  for  it  by  lowering  topmasts  and 
making  all  the  spars  secure,  and  steam  was  also  raised  to  guard  against  the  possibility  of  the 
anchors  not  holding. 

The  wind  rose  to  a  hurricane  and  was  accompanied  by  heavy,  wind-driven  rain,  and  when 
toward  morning  it  became  evident  that  some  smaller  ships  were  already  ashore,  and  that  the 
war-ships  were  dragging  their  anchors  in  spite  of  every  effort,  the  whole  town  was  awake,  and 
much  of  it  down  by  the  beach  seeking  what  shelter  it  could  from  the  sleet-like  blast.  This  night 
of  horror  gradually  lightened  into  dawn,  when  it  was  seen  that  all  the  war-ships  had  been 
swept  from  their  former  moorings  and  were  bearing  down  toward  the  inner  reef.  The  decks 
swarmed  with  men  clinging  to  anything  affording  a  hold.  The  hulls  of  the  ships  were  tossing 
about  like  corks,  and  the  decks  were  being  deluged  with  water  as  every  wave  swept  in  from  the 
open  ocean.      Several  sailing-vessels  had  gone  ashore  in  the  western  part  of  the  bay.     Those 


-208 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


most  plainly  visible  now  were  the  Eber,  Adler,  and  Nipsic,  very  close  together  and  only  a  few 
yards  from  the  reef. 

The  little  gunboat  Eber  was  making  a  desperate  struggle,  but  her  doom  was  certain.  Sud- 
denly she  shot  forward,  the  current  bore  her  off  to  the  right,  and  her  bow  struck  the  port  quarter 
of  the  Nipsic,  carrying  away  several  feet  of  the  Nipsic' s  rail  and  one  boat.  The  Eber  then  fell 
back  and  fouled  with  the  Olga,  and  after  that  she  swung  around  broadside  to  the  wind,  was 
lifted  high  on  the  crest  of  a  great  wave  and  hurled  with  awful  force  upon  the  reef  In  an  instant 
there  was  not  a  vestige  of  her  to  be  seen.  Every  timber  must  have  been  shattered,  and  half  the 
poor  creatures  aboard  of  her  crushed  to  death  before  they  felt  the  waters  closing  above  their 
heads.     Hundreds  of  people  were  on  the  beach  by  this  time,  and  the  work  of  destruction  had 


THE 


jAMOA.Na    SiUOD    BATTLING   AGAINST  THE   SURF,   RISKING  THEIR   LIVES 
TO   SAVE   THE  AMERICAN   SAILORSt" 


occurred  within  full  view  of  them  all.  They  stood  for  a  moment  appalled  by  the  awful  scene, 
and  a  cry  of  horror  arose  from  the  lips  of  every  man  who  had  seen  nearly  a  hundred  of  his  fel- 
low-creatures perish  in  an  instant.  Then  with  one  accord  they  all  rushed  to  the  water's  edge 
nearest  the  point  where  the  Eber  had  foundered.  The  natives  ran  into  the  surf  far  beyond  the 
point  wliere  a  white  man  could  have  lived,  and  stood  waiting  to  save  any  who  might  rise  from 
the  water.  There  were  six  officers  and  seventy  men  on  the  Eber  when  she  struck  the  reef,  and 
of  these  five  officers  and  sixty-six  men  were  lost.  This  was  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
During  the  excitement  attending  that  calamity  the  other  vessels  had  been  for  the  time  for- 
gotten, but  it  was  soon  noticed  that  the  positions  of  several  of  them  had  become  more  alarming. 
The  Adlcr  had  been  swept  across  the  bay,  close  to  the  reef,  and  in  half  an  hour  she  was  lifted 
on  top  of  the  reef  and  turned  completely  over  on  her  side.     Nearly  every  man  was  thrown  into 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP  2O9 

the  water,  but  as  almost  the  entire  hull  was  exposed,  all  but  twenty  succeeded  in  regaining  her 
deck,  and  the  remainder  were  rescued  toward  the 'close  of  the  day  when  almost  exhausted. 

Just  after  the  Adler  struck,  the  attention  of  every  one  was  directed  toward  the  Nipsic.  She 
was  standing  off  the  reef  with  her  head  to  the  wind,  but  the  three  anchors  which  she  had  out  at 
the  time  were  not  holding ;  and  orders  were  given  to  attach  a  hawser  to  a  heavy  eight-inch  rifle 
on  the  forecastle  and  throw  the  gun  overboard.  As  the  men  were  in  the  act  of  doing  this,  the 
Olga  bore  down  on  the  Nipsic  and  struck  her  amidships  with  awful  force.  Her  bowsprit  passed 
over  the  side  of  the  Nipsic,  and,  after  carrying  away  one  boat  and  splintering  the  rail,  came  in 
contact  with  the  smokestack,  which  was  struck  fairly  in  the  center  and  fell  to  the  deck  with  a 
crash  like  thunder.  For  a  moment  it  was  difficult  to  realize  what  had  happened,  and  great  con- 
fusion followed.  The  iron  smokestack  rolled  from  side  to  side  with  every  movement  of  the  vessel, 
until  finally  heavy  blocks  were  placed  under  it.  By  that  time  the  Nipsic  had  swung  around  and 
was  approaching  the  reef,  and  it  seemed  certain  that  she  would  go  down  in  the  same  way  as  had 
the  Eber.  Captain  MuUan  saw  that  any  further  attempt  to  save  the  vessel  would  be  useless,  so 
he  gave  the  orders  to  beach  her.  She  had  a  straight  course  of  about  two  hundred  yards  to  the 
sandy  beach  in  front  of  the  American  consulate,  where  she  stuck  and  stood  firm. 

Two  attempts  to  lower  boats  were  failures  and  every  man  crowded  to  the  forecastle.  A  line 
was  thrown,  double  hawsers  were  soon  made  fast  from  the  vessel  to  the  shore,  and  the  natives 
and  others  gathered  around  the  lines,  where  the  voices  of  officers  shouting  to  the  men  on  deck 
were  mingled  with  the  loud  cries  and  singing  of  the  Samoans.  One  by  one,  and  in  a  very  or- 
derly manner,  the  men  of  the  Nipsic  came  down  the  hawsers  toward  the  shore,  but  many  would 
never  have  reached  it,  had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance  of  the  Samoans,  who,  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives,  stood  in  the  boiling  torrent,  grasping  those  whose  hold  was  broken  from  the  rope. 

Meanwhile,  the  four  large  men-of-war,  Trenton,  Calliope,  Vandalia,  and  Olga,  were  still  afloat 
and  in  a  comparatively  safe  position ;  but  about  ten  o'clock  the  Trenton  was  seen  to  be  in  a  help- 
less condition;  her  rudder  and  propeller  were  both  gone,  and  there  was  nothing  but  her  anchors 
to  hold  her  up  against  the  unabated  force  of  the  storm.  The  Vandalia  and  Calliope  were  also  in 
danger,  drifting  back  toward  the  reef  near  the  point  where  lay  the  wreck  of  the  Adler;  and  they 
came  closer  together  every  minute,  until  finally  the  English  ship  struck  the  Vandalia  and  tore  a 
great  hole  in  her  bow.  Then  Captain  Kane  of  the  Calliope  determined  to  try  to  steam  out  of  the 
harbor  as  his  only  hope,  and  he  at  once  cut  loose  from  all  his  anchors.  The  Calliope's  head  swung 
around  to  the  wind  and  her  engines  were  worked  to  their  utmost  power.  Great  waves  broke  over 
her  bow  and  she  gained  headway  at  first  only  inch  by  inch,  but  her  speed  gradually  increased 
until  it  became  evident  that  she  could  leave  the  harbor.  This  manoeuver  of  the  British  ship  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  daring  in  naval  annals  —  the  one  desperate  chance  offered  her  com- 
mander to  save  his  vessel  and  the  three  hundred  lives  aboard. 

The  Trenton^ s  fires  had  gone  out  by  that  time,  and  she  lay  helpless  almost  in  the  path  of  the 
Calliope.  The  decks  were  swarming  with  men,  but,  facing  death  as  they  were,  they  recognized 
the  heroic  struggle  of  the  British  ship,  and  a  great  shout  went  up  from  aboard  the  Trenton. 
"  Three  cheers  for  the  Calliope .' "  was  the  sound  that  reached  the  ears  of  the  British  tars  as  they 
passed  out  of  the  harbor  in  the  teeth  of  the  storm ;  and  the  heart  of  every  Englishman  went  out 
to  the  brave  American  sailors  who  gave  that  parting  tribute  to  the  Queen's  ship. 

When  the  excitement  on  the  Vandalia  which  followed  the  colHsion  with  the  Calliope  had 
subsided,  it  was  determined  to  beach  the  vessel,  and  straining  every  means  at  hand  to  avoid  the 
dreaded  reef,  she  moved  slowly  across  the  harbor  until  her  bow  stuck  in  the  sand,  about  two 
hundred  yards  off  shore  and  probably  eighty  yards  from  the  stem  of  the  Nipsic.  Her  engines 
were  stopped  and  the  men  in  the  engine-room  and  fire-room  below  were  ordered  on  deck.  The 
ship  swung  around  broadside  to  the  shore,  and  it  was  thought  at  first  that  her  position  was  com- 
paratively safe,  as  it  was  believed  that  the  storm  would  abate  in  a  few  hours,  and  the  two  hun- 
14 


2IO  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

dred  and  forty  men  on  board  could  be  rescued  then ;  but  the  wind  seemed  to  increase  in  fury, 
and  as  the  hull  of  the  steamer  sank  lower  the  force  of  the  waves  grew  more  violent,  yet  no  one 
on  shore  was  able  to  render  the  least  aid. 

These  terrible  scenes  had  detracted  attention  from  the  other  two  men-of-war  still  afloat ;  but 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  positions  of  the  Trenton  and  Olga  became  most  alarming. 
The  flagship  had  been  in  a  helpless  condition  for  hours,  being  without  rudder  or  propeller,  while 
volumes  of  water  poured  in  through  her  hawser-pipes.  Men  never  fought  against  adverse  cir- 
cumstances with  more  desperation  than  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Trenton  displayed  during 
tliose  hours,  yet  the  vessel  was  slowly  forced  over  toward  the  eastern  reef.  Destruction  seemed 
imminent,  as  the  great  vessel  was  pitching  heavily,  and  her  stem  was  but  a  few  feet  from  the 
reef.  This  point  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  shore,  and  if  the  Trenton  had  struck  the  reef  there, 
it  is  probable  that  not  a  life  would  have  been  saved.  A  skilful  manoeuver,  suggested  by  Lieu- 
tenant Brown,  saved  the  ship  from  destruction.  Every  man  was  ordered  into  the  port  rigging, 
and  the  compact  mass  of  bodies  was  used  as  a  sail.  The  wind  struck  against  the  men  in  the 
rigging  and  forced  the  vessel  out  into  the  bay  again.  She  soon  commenced  to  drift  back  against 
the  Olga,  which  was  still  standing  off  the  reef  and  holding  up  against  the  storm  more  successfully 
than  any  other  vessel  in  the  harbor  had  done,  and  in  spite  of  every  effort  on  the  part  of  both 
ships  a  collision  took  place  which  severely  damaged  both.  Fortunately,  the  vessels  drifted  apart, 
whereupon  the  Olga  steamed  ahead  toward  the  mud-flats  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  bay,  and  was 
soon  hard  and  fast  on  the  bottom.  Not  a  life  was  lost,  and  several  weeks  later  the  ship  was 
hauled  off  and  saved. 

The  Trenton  was  now  about  two  hundred  feet  from  the  sunken  Vandalia,  and  seemed  sure 
to  strike  her  and  throw  into  the  water  the  men  still  clinging  to  the  rigging.  It  was  now  after 
five  o'clock,  and  the  daylight  was  beginning  to  fade  away.  In  a  half  hour  more,  the  Trenton 
had  drifted  to  within  a  few  yards  of  the  Vandalia' s  bow,  and  feelings  hard  to  describe  came  to 
the  hundreds  who  watched  the  vessels  from  the  shore. 

Presently  the  last  faint  rays  of  daylight  faded  away,  and  night  came  down  upon  the  awful 
scene.  The  storm  was  still  raging  with  as  much  fury  as  at  any  time  during  the  day.  The  poor 
creatures  who  had  been  clinging  for  hours  to  the  rigging  of  the  Vandalia  were  bruised  and 
bleeding ;  but  they  held  on  with  the  desperation  of  men  who  were  hanging  between  life  and 
death.  The  ropes  had  cut  the  flesh  on  their  arms  and  legs,  and  their  eyes  were  blinded  by  the 
salt  spray  which  swept  over  them.  Weak  and  exhausted  as  they  were,  they  would  be  unable  to 
stand  the  terrible  strain  much  longer.  The  final  hour  seemed  to  be  upon  them.  The  great, 
black  hull  of  the  Trenton  was  almost  ready  to  crash  into  the  stranded  Vandalia  and  grind  her  to 
atoms.  Suddenly  a  shout  was  borne  across  the  waters.  The  sound  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
voices  was  heard  above  the  roar  of  the  tempest.  "  Three  cheers  for  the  Vandalia  !  "  was  the 
cry  that  warmed  the  hearts  of  the  dying  men  in  the  rigging. 

The  shout  died  away  upon  the  storm,  and  there  arose  from  the  quivering  masts  of  the 
sunken  sliip  a  response  so  feeble  it  was  scarcely  heard  upon  the  shore.  Every  heart  was  melted 
to  pity.  '■  God  help  them !  "  was  passed  from  one  man  to  another.  The  cheer  had  hardly 
ceased  when  the  sound  of  music  came  across  the  water.  The  Trenton's  band  was  playing  "  The 
Star-Spangled  Banner."  The  thousand  men  on  sea  and  shore  had  never  before  heard  strains  of 
music  at  such  a  time  as  that.  An  indescribable  feeling  came  over  the  Americans  on  the  beach 
who  listened  to  the  notes  of  the  national  song  mingled  with  the  howling  of  the  storm. 

But  the  collision  of  the  Trenton  and  Vandalia,  instead  of  crushing  the  latter  vessel  to  pieces, 
proved  to  be  the  salvation  of  the  men  in  the  rigging.  When  the  Trenton's  stern  finally  struck 
the  side  of  the  Vandalia,  there  was  no  shock,  and  she  swung  around  broadside  to  the  sunken 
ship.  This  enabled  the  men  on  the  Vandalia  to  escape  to  the  deck  of  the  Trenton,  and  in  a 
short  time  thev  were  all  taken  oft". 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP  211 

The  storm  had  abated  at  midnight,  and  when  day  dawned  there  was  no  further  cause  for 
alarm.     The  men  were  removed  from  the  Trenton  and  provided  with  quarters  on  shore. 

During  the  next  few  days  the  evidences  of  the  great  disaster  could  be  seen  on  every  side. 
In  the  harbor  were  the  wrecks  of  four  men-of-war:  the  Trenton,  Vandalia,  Adler,  and  Eber ; 
and  two  others,  the  Nipsic  and  Olga,  were  hard  and  fast  on  the  beach  and  were  hauled  off  with 
great  difficulty.     The  wrecks  of  ten  sailing-vessels  also  lay  upon  the  reefs.     On  shore,  houses  j 

and  trees  were  blown  down^  and  the  beach  was  strewn  with  wreckage  from  one  end  of  the  town  ' 

to  the  other. 

Ever  since  men  began  to  go  to  sea  lights  have  been  placed  on  shore  to  ' 
guide  them  to  a  landing-place ;  but  in  early  times  these  were  nothing  more 
than  fires  on  headlands,  kindled,  perhaps,  by  the  wives  and  children  of  the 
captain  and  his  crew  of  neighbors,  when  these  mariners  were  expected 
home.  These  friendly  services  became  a  little  more  systematic  when 
merchants  began  to  risk  their  property  on  the  water ;  and  on  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean,  which  we  have  found  to  be  the  cradle  of  civilized  navi- 
gation and  trade,  harbor-beacons  were  erected  in  very  early  times  as  guides 
to  a  safe  anchorage. 

The  giant  statue  known  as  the  Colossus,  at  Rhodes,  is  supposed  to  have  been  used  as  a 
beacon  and  lighthouse,  a  fire  burning  in  the  palm  of  its  uplifted  colossal  hand  at  night.  Al- 
though the  account  of  the  Colossus  is  only  a  matter  of  guesswork,  it  is  historically  true  that  in 
those  ages  of  ignorant  heedlessness  of  the  need  of  beacons,  a  lighthouse  was  built  so  grand  in 
proportions,  so  enduring  in  character,  that  it  became  known  as  one  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the 
World,  and  outlived  all  the  others,  save  the  Pyramids,  by  centuries,  and  in  some  ways  has  never 
been  excelled  by  any  similar  structure  in  modern  times,  unless  it  be  by  our  mammoth  marble 
monument  to  Washington.  This  was  the  lighthouse  built  on  the  little  island  of  Pharos  by 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  king  of  Egypt,  two  hundred  and  eighty  years  before  Christ,  to  guide 
vessels  into  the  harbor  of  Alexandria.  From  all  descriptions,  it  must  have  closely  resembled  our 
Washington  monument ;  for  it  was  built  of  white  stone,  was  square  at  the  base,  and  tapered 
toward  the  apex.  Open  windows  were  near  its  top,  through  which  the  fire  within  could  be  seen 
for  thirty  miles  by  vessels  at  sea. 

The  destruction  of  these  beacons  in  the  general  smash  and  ruin  that  seem  I 
to  have  overtaken  the  world  when  the  Roman  empire  went  to  pieces  is  only 
indicative  of  the  way  the  darkness  of  barbarism  returned  and  enveloped  the 
minds  as  well  as  the  works  of  men,  until  light  broke  through  the  clouds  i 
again  with  the  rise  of  organized  sea-powers  in  Western  Europe.  Then 
beacons  were  gradually  rebuilt,  but  in  almost  all  cases  by  private  hands  — 
the  feudal  lords  of  coast  estates,  the  master  or  authorities  of  sea-ports,  the 
monks  in  monasteries  near  dangerous  landings,  and  now  and  then  the  king 
at  his  principal  port,  setting  up  marks  for  steering  by  day  and  lighting  fires 
on  dark  nights.  Most  of  the  latter  were  hardly  more  than  tar-barrels, 
-which  would  burn  brightly  in  a  gale,  and  the  better  class  were  towers  of 


212  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

Stonework,  on    top  of  which  a  mass  of  coal  was  ignited  in  an   iron  cage, 
and  kept  stirred  into  brightness  by  a  watcher. 

It  was  an  easy  matter  to  imitate  such  beacons,  and  wreckers  would  often 
set  up  false  lights.  Many  a  fearful  tradition  has  come  down  of  the  doings 
of  wreckers,  not  only  in  England  and  Spain,  but  in  America  and  in  the 
East.  One  of  their  tricks,  when  they  saw  a  ship  approaching  in  the  even- 
ing, was  to  hang  a  lantern  upon  a  horse's  neck,  and  let  him  graze,  well- 
hobbled,  along  the  beach.  This  would  appear  like  the  rocking  of  a  lantern 
on  a  vessel  at  rest — what  is  called  a  riding  or  anchor  light;  and,  deceived 
by  this  promise  of  a  safe  anchorage,  the  stranger  would  not  discover  that 
he  had  been  cheated  until  his  keel  struck  a  reef  or  sandbar,  and  the 
pirates  had  begun  their  villainous  attack.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a  device 
of  this  kind  which  caused  the  wreck  in  1812,  on  the  Carolina  coast, — whose 
islands  and  lagoons  are  reputed  to  have  been  infested  by  such  ruffians, 
there  known  as  "bankers," — of  a  vessel  carrying  the  beautiful  Theodosia 
Burr,  daughter  of  Aaron  Burr,  and  wife  of  Governor  Alston  of  South 
Carolina.     Her  death  at  the  hands  of  these  men  is  illustrated  on  page  172. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  of  England,  an  association  of  mariners 
called,  in  short,  the  Guild  of  the  Trinity  was  chartered  and  given  various 
powers  and  privileges  in  connection  with  the  newly  instituted  royal  navy 
and  dockyards.  It  encouraged  coast-lights,  and  in  1573  Queen  Elizabeth 
formally  placed  authority  to  erect  and  govern  lighthouses  and  coast  beacons 
in  the  hands  of  this  corporation,  and  there  it  remains  to  this  day ;  for  its 
headquarters.  Trinity  House,  on  Tower  Hill,  in  London,  are  a  recognized 
office  of  the  British  government,   answering  to  our  Lighthouse  Board. 

It  was  not  long  before  it  encouraged  the  founding  of  a  permanent 
light  on  Eddystone  Shoals,  a  group  of  reefs  near  Plymouth,  exceedingly 
dangerous  because  they  lie  precisely  in  the  track  of  ships  bound  up  or 
down  the  English  Channel,  yet  almost  invisible.  Upon  the  mere  standing- 
room  afforded  by  the  crest  of  this  rock,  Sir  William  Winstanley  managed 
to  erect,  two  hundred  years  ago,  a  tower  of  wood  and  iron  trestle-work, 
bolted  to  its  foundation  and  carrying  a  glass  room  or  lantern  containing  a 
coal-grate,  eighty  feet  above  low-water  mark.  This  was  completed  in  1698. 
One  winter's  experience  convinced  him  that  it  needed  strengthening,  and  in 
1699  a  case  of  masonry  was  built  about  the  tower,  and  made  solid  to  the 
height  of  twenty  feet,  while  the  whole  structure  was  increased  to  the  height 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  Then,  it  is  related,  Winstanley  boasted 
that  the  sea  had  not  strength  enough  to  tear  it  down,  and  all  England 
rejoiced  in  so  noble  a  beacon ;  but  we  now  know  that  the  construction  was 
faulty,  in   its  large   diameter,  polygonal   outline,   excess   of  ornament,  and 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


213 


lack  of  weight.  While  Sir  William  was  within  it  making  repairs,  four 
years  later,  the  memorable  hurricane  of  November  20,  1 703,  swept  the  coast, 
and  left  scarcely  a  trace  of  the  tower.  Its  value  had  been  proved,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  replaced,  in  1706,  by  a  straight-sided  tower  of  oaken 
timbers,  weighted  in  their  lower  courses  by  stone.  This  was  designed  by 
an  engineer  named  Rudyerd,  and  lasted  until  burned  down  in  1755;  and 
engineers  say  it  was  better  for  its  place  than  was  the  round,  solid-based 
stone  tower  of  Smeaton  that  followed  it,  and  became  so  celebrated.  This 
was  finished  in  three  years,  and  in  i  760  was  lighted,  not  by  a  fire,  as  of  old, 
but  by  candles  —  the  first  use  of  such  an  illuminant.     This  truly  illustrious 


ENGRAVED  BY  R.  C.  COLUNS. 

THE   WRECK   OF   THE   FIRST   MINOT'S   LEDGE   LIGHTHOUSE. 

lighthouse  remained  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  it  became  so  racked  by 
the  assaults  of  the  sea  as  to  be  unsafe.  It  was  then  replaced  by  the  one 
that  stands  there  to-day,  rivaling  its  magnificent  neighbor  on  the  Biscay 
shore  opposite,  the  lighthouse  of  Carduan,  which  was  built  to  support  a  bon- 
fire of  oak,  but  has  remained  to  be  lighted  successively  by  oil-lamps,  by 
gas-burners,  and  finally  by  electricity. 

A  somewhat  similar  history  belongs  to  some  of  the  lighthouses  on  this 

side  of  the  Atlantic.     The  first  one  regularly  set  up  in  the  United  States 

was  that  on  the  north  side  of  the  entrance  to  Boston  harbor,  erected  in 

1 7 16;  but  many  others  go  back  to  Colonial  days  —  that  on  Sandy  Hook, 

14* 


214 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


for  instance.  Perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting history  is  attached  to  the  light 
on  Minot's  Ledge,  in  Boston  harbor. 
This  is  a  dangerous  reef,  concealed  at 
high  water  and  so  exposed  that  the 
problem  of  lighting  it  was  much  the 
same  as  that  presented  at  Eddystone, 
Bell  Rock,  Dhu  Heartach,  and  other 
well  known  islets  on  the  British  coast. 
The  first  lighthouse  on  Minot's 
Ledge  was  built  in  1848,  and  was  an 
octagonal  tower  resting  on  the  tops  of 
eight  wrought-iron  piles  sixty  feet 
high,  eight  inches  in  diameter,  and 
sunk  five  feet  into  the  rock. 

These  piles  were  braced  together  in  many 
ways,  and,  as  they  offered  less  surface  to  the 
waves  than  a  solid  structure,  the  lighthouse  was 
considered  by  all  authorities  upon  the  subject  to 
be  exceptionally  strong.  Its  great  test  came  in 
April,  185 1.  On  the  fourteenth  of  that  months 
two  keepers  being  in  the  lighthouse,  an  easterly 
gale  set  in,  steadily  increasing  in  force.  .  .  .  On 
Wednesday,  the  sixteenth,  the  gale  had  become 
a  hurricane ;  and  when  at  times  the  tower  could 
be  seen  through  the  mists  and  sea-drift,  it  seemed 
to  bend  to  the  shock  of  the  waves.  At  four 
o'clock  that  afternoon  an  ominous  proof  of  the 
fury  of  the  waves  on  Minot's  Ledge  reached  the 
shore  —  a  platform  which  had  been  built  between  the  piles  only  seven  feet  below  the  floor  of  the 
keeper's  room.  The  raging  seas,  then,  were  leaping  fifty  feet  in  the  air.  Would  they  reach  ten 
feet  higher  ?  —  for  if  so,  the  house  and  the  keepers  were  doomed.  Nevertheless,  when  darkness 
set  in  the  light  shone  out  as  brilliantly  as  ever,  but  the  gale  seemed,  if  possible,  then  to  increase. 
What  agony  those  two  men  must  have  suffered!  How  that  dreadful  abode  must  have  swayed 
in  tlie  irresistible  hurricane,  and  trembled  at  each  crashing  sea!  The  poor  unfortunates  must 
have  known  that  if  those  seas,  leaping  always  higher  and  higher,  ever  reached  their  house,  it 
w  ould  be  flung  down  into  the  ocean,  and  they  would  be  buried  with  it  beneath  the  waves. 

To  those  hopeless,  terrified  watchers  the  entombing  sea  came  at  last.  At  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  lighthouse  bell  was  heard  by  those  on  shore  to  give  a  mournful  clang,  and  the  light 
was  Lxtinguished.     It  was  the  funeral  knell  of  two  patient  heroes. 

Next  day  there  remained  on  the  rock  only  eight  jagged  iron  stumps. 


A   SCREW-PILE   OCEAN    LIGHTHOUSE. 


Thus,  everywhere,  and  in  all  latitudes,  the  beacons  and  wooden  towers 
and  huge  pyramids  of  long  ago  have  given  place  to  slender  spires  of  solid 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


215 


masonry,  holding  powerful  signals  perhaps  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
waves,  and  visible  as  far  as  the  curve  of  the  earth's  surface  will  permit. 
Yet  in  place  of  the  sturdy  bonfire  of  oak,  or  the  huge  iron  cage  full  of  coals, 
there  is  only  a  single  lamp,  whose  rays  are  gathered  by  deep  reflectors  into 
a  compact  bundle  of  unwasted  rays,  and  doubled  and  redoubled  by  rows  of 
magnifying  lenses  until  they  can  dart  to  the  furthest  horizon  in  a  strong 
beam  of  steady  light.  No  longer  does  the  mariner  trust  to  his  wife  to 
kindle  the  tar-barrel  to  guide  him  home.  He  knows  that  nowhere  is  his 
government  more  watchful  of  its  subjects  than  in  its  lighthouse  service,  and 
that  he  may  trust  to  havin'g  that  bright  signal  to  welcome  him  in  the  dark- 
ness, as  well  as  he  can  trust  his  own  eyes  to  see  it.  The  United  States 
alone  expends  over  $2,500,000  annually  in  looking  after  her  lighthouses, 
lightships,  and  buoys. 

Indeed,  these  beacons  have  become  so  thickly  planted  that  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  distinguish  between  them  in  order  to  avoid  mistaking 
one  for  another.  At  first  this  was 
done  by  doubling,  as  in  the  case  of 
New  York's  "  Highland  Lights,"  or 
the  twin  lights  of  Thatcher's  Island 
off  Cape  Ann,  or  even  trebling  them 
as  at  Nauset,  on  Cape  Cod,  but  now 
the  display  is  made  to  vary.  Thus 
some  of  them  are  simply  fixed  white 
lights ;  some  are  white  and  revolve — 
the  whole  lantern  on  the  summit  of  the 
tower  being  turned  on  wheels  by  ma- 
chinery, and  the  flame  disappears  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time;  while  others 
are  white  "flash"  lights,  glancing  only 
for  an  instant,  and  then  lost  for  a  few 
seconds,  or  giving  a  long  wink  and 
then  a  short  one  with  a  space  of  dark- 
ness between.  Some  lighthouses  show 
a  steady  red  light;  others,  alternate  red 
and  white.  By  these  colors  and  vary- 
ing periods  of  appearance  and  disap- 
pearance (noted  on  charts,  and  pub- 
lished by  the  government  in  a  general 
seaman's  guide  called  the  "Coast  Pi- 

1    .»x  •        .  ,  u-   I,  1-    u-u.i-  THE   LIGHTHOUSE  AT   ST.  AUGUSTINE, 

lot  ),  navigators  know  which  light  they  Florida. 


2l6  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

are  looking  at  when  several  are  in  sight.  For  daylight  recognition  the 
towers  may  be  painted  half  black  and  half  white,  or  in  stripes  or  bands  or 
spirals,  like  the  big  barber's  pole  in  front  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  describe  in  detail  the  beautiful  machinery  by 
which  the  rays  from  the  large  but  simple  argand  kerosene  lamp  are  con- 
densed into  a  single  beam  and  projected  through  the  Fresnel  system  of  con- 
densers and  lenses,  and  by  which  the  revolution  and  "flashing"  are  effected. 
Petroleum  has  superseded  all  other  oils  for  general  use,  but  electricity  is 
now  being  extensively  employed  in  the  illumination  of  coast  lights,  espe- 
cially in  France,  where  they  are  introducing  new  principles,  such  as  pro- 
ducing lightning-like  flashes  with  a  certain  recognized  regularity,  and 
waving  stupendous  search-light  beams  in  the  sky,  so  that  the  approach  to 
the  coast  may  be  seen  when  the  land  and  lighthouse  themselves  are  still 
below  the  horizon.  If  you  have  an  opportunity  to  go  into  the  lantern  of  a 
lighthouse,  by  all  means  take  advantage  of  it;  and  if  you  can  be  there  when 
a  storm  is  raging,  or  when,  on  some  misty  night,  the  lantern  is  besieged  by 
migrating  birds,  you  will  never  forget  the  scene. 

On  some  especially  dangerous  —  because  hidden  —  shoals,  reefs,  or  bars, 
like  those  off  Nantucket  or  the  extreme  point  of  Sandy  Hook,  it  may  be  out 
of  the  question  or  bad  policy  to  erect  a  lighthouse.  Here  its  place  is  taken 
by  anchoring  a  stout  vessel,  built  to  withstand  the  severest  weather,  and 
arranged  to  carry  lanterns  at  its  mastheads. 

These  are  called  "lightships,"  and  they  are  manned  by  a  crew  of 
keepers  who  have  a  very  monotonous  and  uncomfortable  time  of  it;  yet  in 
some  cases  men  have  spent  twenty  years  or  more  in  the  service. 

The  most  desolate  and  dangerous  lightship  station  is  that  of  No.  i, 
Nantucket.  "Upon  this  tossing  island,  out  of  sight  of  land,  exposed  to  the 
fury  of  every  tempest,  and  without  a  message  from  home  during  all  the 
stormy  months  of  winter,  and  sometimes  even  longer,  ten  men,  braving  the 
perils  of  wind  and  wave,  and  the  worse  terrors  of  isolation,  trim  the  lamps 
whose  light  warns  thousands  of  vessels  from  certain  destruction,  and  hold 
themselves  ready  to  save  life  when  the  warning   is  vain." 

Seven  years  ago  Mr.  Gustav  Kobbe,  and  the  artist,  William  Taber, 
spent  several  days  on  the  lightship  and  gave  a  graphic  account  of  the  life 
there,  which  I  wish  I  were  able  to  quote  in  full. 

The  anchorage  is  twenty-four  miles  out  at  sea  beyond  Sankaty  head,  at 
the  extremity  of  the  shoals  and  rips  which  make  all  that  space  of  water  be- 
yond the  visible  coast  of  Nantucket  fatal  to  ships,  hundreds  of  which  are 
known  to  have  been  beaten  to  pieces  on  its  treacherous  bars.  She  is 
moored  to  a  6500-pound  mushroom  anchor  by  a  chain  two  inches  in  thick- 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP  21 7 

ness,  yet  she  has  been  torn  adrift  twenty-three  times,  and  has  wandered 
widely  before  returning  or  being  overtaken. 

"No.  I,  Nantucket  New  South  Shoals,"  to  quote  Mr.  Kobbe, 

is  a  schooner  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  tons,  one  hundred  and  three  feet  long,  with 
twenty-four  feet  breadth  of  beam,  and  stanchly  built  of  white  and  live  oak.  She  has  two  hulls, 
the  space  between  them  being  filled  through  holes  at  short  intervals  in  the  inner  side  of  the  bul- 
warks with  salt.  .  .  .  She  has  fore-and-aft  lantern-masts  seventy-one  feet  high,  including  top- 
masts, and  directly  behind  each  of  the  lantern  masts  a  mast  for  sails  forty-two  feet  high. 
Forty-four  feet  up  the  lantern-masts  are  day-marks,  reddish  brown  hoop-iron  gratings,  which 
enable  other  vessels  to  sight  the  lightship  more  readily.  The  lanterns  are  octagons  of  glass  in 
copper  frames  five  feet  in  diameter,  four  feet  nine  inches  high,  with  the  masts  as  centers.  Each 
pane  of  glass  is  two  feet  long  and  two  feet  three  inches  high.     There  are  eight  lamps,  burning 


LIGHTSHIP   NO.   i,  NANTUCKET  NEW   SOUTH   SHOALS. 

a  fixed  white  light,  with  parabolic  reflectors  in  each  lantern,  which  weighs,  all  told,  about  a 
ton.  Some  nine  hundred  gallons  of  oil  are  taken  aboard  for  service  during  the  year.  The 
lanterns  are  lowered  into  houses  built  around  the  masts.  The  house  around  the  main  lantern- 
mast  stands  directly  on  the  deck,  while  the  foremast  lantern-house  is  a  heavily-timbered  frame 
three  feet  high.  This  is  to  prevent  its  being  washed  away  by  the  waves  the  vessel  ships  when 
she  plunges  into  the  wintry  seas.  When  the  lamps  have  been  lighted  and  the  roofs  of  the  lan- 
tern-houses opened, —  they  work  on  hinges,  and  are  raised  by  tackle,—  the  lanterns  are  hoisted 
by  means  of  winches  to  a  point  about  twenty-five  feet  from  the  deck.  Were  they  to  be  hoisted 
higher  they  would  make  the  ship  top-heavy. 

A  conspicuous  object  forward  is  the  large  fog-bell  swung  ten  feet  above  the  deck.  The 
prevalence  of  fog  makes  life  on  the  South  Shoal  Lightship  especially  dreary.  During  one  season 
fifty-five  days  out  of  seventy  were  thick,  and  for  twelve  consecutive  dayS  and  nights  the  bell 
was  kept  tolling  at  two-minute  intervals. 

The  actual  work  to  be  done  is  small,  the  daily  cleaning  of  the  lamps  re- 
quiring only  two  or  three  hours,  and  other  chores  being  very  light,  and  the 


2l8 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


men  nearly  die  of  loneliness  and  "nothing  to  do."  It  is  pathetic  to  read 
how  intense  and  friendly  an  interest  they  take  in  a  single  red  buoy  anchored 
near  them  ;  and  they  admit  that  fog  is  dreaded  more  because  it  hides  this 
neighbor  than  for  any  other  reason. 

Mr.  Kobbe  tells  us  that  the  emotional  stress  under  which  this  crew  labors 
can  hardly  be  realized  by  any  one  who  has  not  been  through  a  similar 
experience. 

The  sailor  on  an  ordinary  ship  has  at  least  the  inspiration  of  knowing  that  he  is  bound  for 
somewhere ;  that  in  due  time  his  vessel  will  be  laid  on  her  homeward  course ;  that  storm  and  fog 
are  but  incidents  of  the  voyage  :  he  is  on  a  ship  that  leaps  forward  full  of  life  and  energy  with  every 
lash  of  the  tempest.  But  no  matter  how  the  lightship  may  plunge  and  roll,  no  matter  how  strong 
the  favoring  gales  may  be,  she  is  still  anchored  two  miles  southeast  of  the  New  South  Shoal. 


CLEANING  THE   LAMPS   ON   A   LIGHTSHIP. 


Besides  enduring  the  hardships  incidental  to  their  duties  aboard  the  lightship,  the  South 
Shoal  crew  have  done  noble  work  in  saving  Hfe.  While  the  care  of  the  lightship  is  considered 
of  such  importance  to  shipping  that  the  crew  are  instructed  not  to  expose  themselves  to  dangers 
outside  their  special  line  of  duty,  and  they  would  therefore  have  the  fullest  excuse  for  not  risking 
their  lives  in  rescuing  others,  they  have  never  hesitated  to  do  so.  When,  a  few  winters  ago, 
the  City  of  Newcastle  went  ashore  on  one  of  the  shoals  near  the  Hghtship,  and  strained  herself  so 
badly  that  although  she  floated  off,  she  soon  filled  and  went  down  stem  foremost,  all  hands, 
twenty-seven  in  number,  were  saved  by  the  South  Shoal  crew  and  kept  aboard  of  her  over  two 
weeks,  until  the  story  of  the  wreck  was  signaled  to  some  passing  vessel  and  the  lighthouse  tender 
took  them  off.  This  is  the  largest  number  saved  at  one  time  by  the  South  Shoal,  but  the 
lightship  crew  have  faced  great  danger  on  several  other  occasions. 

This  is,  perhaps,  the  extreme  picture  of  lightship  life,  but  apart  from 
the  prolonged  isolation  and  continuous  roughness  of  the  water,  the  experi- 


DANGERS  OF  THE  DEEP 


219 


THE  FOG-BELL. 


ences  of  the  men  off  Sandy  Hook  and  elsewhere 
are  not  greatly  removed  from  it,  and  no  philanthropy 
is  more  worthy  of  support  than  that  which  seeks  to 
mitigate  the  loneliness  of  these  exiles  by  providing 
them  with  reading  matter.  The  Lighthouse  Board 
provides  a  small  circulating  library  for  these  ships, 
and  contributions  of  books  and  files  of  illustrated 
periodicals  will  be  gratefully  received  and  put  to 
good  use  by  the  Superintendent  of  the  Lighthouse 
Service  in  Washington. 

But  there  are  times  —  and  they  occur  very  fre- 
quently in  northern  waters  —  when  fogs  which  no 
light  can  penetrate  envelop  sea  and  coast,  and  that 
is  the  most  dangerous  of  all  times  to  an  approaching 
ship.  The  only  means  by  which  a  warning  can 
be  given,  in  such  an  emergency,  is  by  sound.  In 
many  places  bells  are  rung,  but  often  the  place  to 
be  avoided  is  so  situated  that  the  roar  of  the  surf 

would  drown  a  bell's  note,  and  then  fog-horns  are  blown.  These  fog-horns 
are  of  a  size  so  immense,  and  voices  so  stentorian,  that  it  requires  a  steam 
engine  to  blow  them,  and  they  utter  a  booming,  hollow  blast,  a  dismal  note 
as  we  hear  it  when  we  are  safe  on  the  land,  but  sweet  to  the  anxious  captain 
whose  vessel  is  laboring  through  the  gloom  under  close-reefed  topsails,  and 
uncertain  of  her  exact  position.  One  kind  of  these  horns  is  very  complicated 
in  its  structure,  and  screeches  in  a  rough,  broken  blare,  a  note  far-reaching 
beyond  any  smooth,  whistling  sound  that  could  be  made.  This  shriek  is  so 
hideous,  so  ear-splitting,  when  heard  near  at  hand,  that  no  name  bad  enough 
to  express  it  could  be  found ;  so  its  inventors  went  to  the  other  extreme,  and 
called  it  a  siren,  after  those  most  enchanting  of  sweet  singers  who  tried  to 
entice  Ulysses  out  of  his  course.  This  name  is  opposite  in  a  double  sense, 
indeed,  for  the  sirens  of  old  lured  sailors  to  wreck,  while  our  siren  hoarsely 
bids  them  keep  off.  Finally,  buoys,  which  at  first  were  simply  tight  casks, 
but  now  are  usually  made  of  boiler-iron,  are  anchored  on  small  reefs,  to 
which  are  hung  bells,  rung  constantly  by  the  tossing  of  their  support ;  and 
on  other  reefs  buoys  are  fixed  having  a  hollow  cap  so  arranged  that  when  a 
big  wave  rushes  over,  it  shuts  in  a  body  of  air,  under  great  and  sudden 
pressure,  which  can  only  escape  through  a  whistle  in  the  top  of  the  cap,  ut- 
tering a  long  warning  wail  to  tell  its  position. 

It  is  in  such  times  as  this  that  the  pilot  comes  out  strong. 

A   pilot   is   a   man  who  has  made  himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with 


220 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


A   SIREN    RIGGED    UPON   A   MERCHAM    .-,1  j.A:>i.^HiP. 


certain  waters  where  navigation  is  dangerous,  and  who  is  licensed  by  some 
proper  authority,  after  training  and  examination,  to  direct  vessels  in  safety 
in  entering  harbors  or  passing  through  other  intricate  places.  A  ship-cap- 
tain may  be  an  excellent  navigator,  but  he  is  not  expected  to  know  every 
rock  and  sandbar  crouching  under  the  waves,  and  all  the  twistings  and 
turnings  of  the  entrance  and  channel  of  a  foreign  harbor,  especially  as  these 
channels  are  subject  to  constant  change.  In  this  country,  indeed,  although 
coasting-vessels  may  refuse  a  pilot,  the  law  will  not  permit  captains  coming 
from  or  bound  to  a  foreign  port  to  do  so ;  and  if  any  accident  happens 
when  no  pilot  is  aboard  the  insurance  money  will  not  be  paid,  and  the  ship's 
officers  may  be  punished. 

Pilots,  then,  are  important  men  and  are  able  to  charge  very  high  prices 
for  their  services  (generally  rated  according  to  the  draft  of  the  vessel),  and 
their  profession  is  so  organized  and  guarded  that  not  only  must  a  man  be 
thoroughly  competent,  but  he  must  wait  for  a  vacancy  in  the  regular 
nunil^er  before  he  will  be  admitted  to  their  ranks. 

Their  method  of  work  is  very  exciting.  A  dozen  or  so  together  will 
form  the  crew  of  a  trim,  stanch  schooner,  provisioned  for  a  fortnight  or 
more,  which  can  outsail  anything  but  a  racing  yacht,  and  is  built  to  ride 
safely  through  the  highest  seas.  A  few  steamers  are  coming  into  use,  but 
the  procedure  is  much  the  same.  You  will  now  and  then  see  one  of  these 
beautiful  little  vessels  sailing  up  the  quiet  harbor,  threading  its  way 
through  the  black  steamers  and  sputtering  tug-boats  and  great  ships,  as  a 
shy  and  graceful  girl  walks  among  the  guests  at  a  lawn  party,  and  you 
know  from  its  air  as  well  as  the  big  number  on  its  white  mainsail  that  it  is  a 
]jilot  boat,  even  if  it  does  not  carry  the  regular  pilot- flag,  which  in  the 
United  States  is  simply  the  "union"  or  starry  canton  of  the  ensign. 

But  these  fine  schooners  and  the  brave  men  they  carry  are  rarely  in 
port.     Their  time  is  spent  far  in  the  offing  of  the  harbor,  cruising  back  and 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


221 


forth  in  wait  for  incoming  ships,  and  the  New  York  pilots  often  go  two  and 
three  hundred  miles  out  to  sea,  and  in  storms  may  be  blown  much  farther 
away.      Other  pilot-boats  are  waiting  also,  and  the  lookout  at  the  reeling 


BURNING   A  "FLARE"   ON   A   PILOT-BOAT. 


mast-head  must  keep  the  very  keenest  watch  upon  the  horizon.  Suddenly 
he  catches  sight  of  a  white  speck  which  his  practised  eye  tells  him  is  a 
ship's    top-sails,    or    of  a   blur  upon    the    sky  that    advertises  a  steamer's 


2  22  THE    BOOK    OF   THE    OCEAN 

approach.  The  schooner's  head  is  instantly  turned  toward  it,  and  all  the 
canvas  is  crowded  on  that  she  will  bear,  for  away  off  at  the  right  a  second 
pilot-boat,  well  down,  is  also  seen  to  be  aiming  at  the  same  point  and 
trying  hard  to  win. 

The  first  pilots  of  New  York  harbor  were  stationed  at  Sandy  Hook, 
and  visited  incoming  vessels  in  whale-boats ;  and  many  a  stately  British 
frigate  or  colonial  trader  was  forced  to  wait  anxiously  outside  the  bar, 
rolling  and  tossing  in  the  sea-way,  or  tacking  hither  and  yon,  hoping  for  a 
glimpse  of  that  tiny  speck  where  flashing  oars  told  of  the  coming  pilot.  It 
is  in  this  way,  as  the  late  Mr.  J.  O.  Davidson,  the  artist,  who  knew  all 
about  such  things,  told  us  in  "St.  Nicholas"  (January,  1890),  that  many 
vessels  are  still  met,  off  some  of  our  smaller  harbors,  and  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  River.  There  the  waters  of  the  great  river  pouring  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  through  the  Port  Eads  Jetties  make  a  turbulent  swell 
with  foam-crested  billows  that  roll  the  stoutest  ship's  gunwale  under,  even 
in  calm  weather ;  yet  the  little  whale-boats,  swift  and  buoyant,  dash  out 
bravely  in  a  race  for  the  sail  on  the  distant  horizon,  for  there  are  two  pilot- 
stations  at  the  Jetties,  and  it  is  "  first  come  first  engaged." 

Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  ship  that  looks  for  the  pilot, 
cruising  about  with  the  code-letters  P  T  flying  from  her  signal-halyards  in 
token  of  her  need.  She  may  even  run  past  a  pilot-boat  in  the  night  and 
get  into  danger  without  being  aware  of  it.  To  prevent  this,  says  Mr. 
Davidson,  the  pilots  burn  what  is  known  as  a  "  flare  "  or  torch,  consisting 
of  a  bunch  of  cotton  or  lamp-wick  dipped  in  turpentine,  on  the  end  of  a 
short  handle.  It  burns  with  a  brilliant  flame,  lighting  up  the  sea  for  a  great 
distance  and  throwing  the  sails  and  number  of  the  pilot-boat  into  strong 
relief  against  the  darkness.  On  a  dark  clear  night,  the  reddish  glare 
which  the  signal  projects  on  the  clouds  looks  like  distant  heat  lightning. 

Having  sighted  his  vessel,  the  pilot  whose  turn  it  is  to  go  on  duty  hur- 
ries below  and  packs  the  valise  which  contains  such  things  as  he  wishes  to 
take  home,  for  this  is  his  method  of  going  ashore ;  and  when  he  has  de- 
parted, if  he  is  the  last  one  of  the  pilot-crew,  the  little  vessel  returns  herself 
to  port  in  charge  of  the  sailing-master,  cook,  and  "boy,"  to  refit  and  take 
on  a  new  set  of  men. 

The  storm  may  be  howling  in  the  full  force  of  the  winter's  fury,  and  the 
waves  running  "  mountain-high,"  but  the  pilot  must  get  aboard  by  some 
means.  It  is  rough  weather  indeed  when  his  mates  cannot  launch  their 
yawl  and  row  him  to  where  he  can  climb  up  the  stranger's  side  with  the  aid 
of  a  friendly  rope's  end. 

Yet  frequently  this  is  out  of  the  question.     Then  a  "  whip  "  is  rigged 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


225 


beyond  the  end  of  a  lee  yard-arm,  carrying  a  rope  rove  through  a  snatch- 
block,  and  having  a  noose  at  its  end.     The  steamer  slows  her  engines,  or 


A    PILOT   EOARDl-XG   A   STEAMER. 


the  ship  heaves  to,  and  the  pilot-schooner,  under  perfect  control,  runs  up 
under  the  lee  of  the  big  ship,  as  near  as  she  dares  in  the  gale.     Then,  just 


224  "THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

at  the  right  instant,  a  man  on  the  ship's  yard  hurls  the  rope,  it  is  caught  by 
the  schooner,  the  pilot  slips  one  leg  through  the  bowline-noose,  and  a 
second  afterward  the  schooner  has  swept  on  and  he  is  being  hoisted 
up  to  the  yard-arm,  but  generally  not  in  time  to  save  himself  a  good 
ducking  in  the  coaming  of  some  big  roller.  Going  on  shipboard  in  this 
fashion  is  not  favorable  to  an  imposing  effect ;  nevertheless,  the  pilot  is 
welcomed  by  both  crew  and  passengers,  who  admire  his  courage  and 
trust  his  skill,  but  smile  at  the  high  hat  beloved  of  all  pilots. 

Now  the  pilot  is  master  —  stands  ahead  of  the  captain  even  —  and  his 
orders  are  absolute  law.  He  inspects  the  vessel  to  form  his  opinion  of  how 
she  will  behave,  and  then  goes  to  the  wheel  or  stands  where  best  he  can 
give  his  orders  to  the  steersman  and  to  the  men  in  the  fore-chains  heaving 
the  sounding  lead.  He  must  never  abandon  his  post,  he  must  never  lose 
his  control  of  the  ship,  or  make  a  mistake  as  to  its  position  in  respect  to  the 
lee-shore,  or  fail  to  be  equal  to  every  emergency.  If  it  is  too  dark  and  foggy 
and  stormy  to  see,  he  must  feel;  and  if  he  cannot  do  this  he  must  have  the 
faculty  of  going  right  by  intuition.  To  fail  is  to  lose  his  reputation  if  not 
his  life.  This  is  what  is  expected  of  pilots,  and  this  is.  what  they  actually 
do  in  a  hundred  cases,  the  full  details  of  any  one  of  which  would  make  a 
long  and  thrilling  tale  of  adventurous  fighting  for  life. 

It  is  to  help  pilots  and  navigators  of  all  sorts  to  avoid  the  perils  that  beset 
them  that  governments  not  only  spend  large  sums  in  surveying  coasts  and 
harbors,  publishing  charts  and  descriptions,  and  maintaining  lighthouses  and 
lightships,  but  mark  out  bars  and  channels  with  floating  guides,  and  their 
borders  with  shore-beacons  and  "ranges,"  to  form  so  many  finger-posts 
for  the  right  road.  Were  it  not  for  these  sign-posts  no  ship  could  safely 
enter  any  commercial  harbor  in  the  world  ;  and  it  will  be  valuable  to  quote 
somewhat  from  an  article,  with  capital  illustrations,  written  for  "  St.  Nich- 
olas" (March,  1896)  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  Lieut.  John  M. 
Ellicott,  since  it  describes  how  the  long,  winding  approaches  to  one  of  the 
greatest  ports  of  the  world  are  marked  out  by  day  and  by  night  —  I  mean 
the  harbor  of  New  York. 

Suppose,  then,  that  we  are  on  a  big  transatlantic  steamer  approaching  the  United  States 
from  Europe.  .  .  .  Having  secured  his  pilot,  it  is  the  captain's  next  aim  to  make  a  "land-fall" 
—  that  is  to  sa\',  he  wishes  to  come  in  sight  of  some  well-known  object  on  shore,  which,  being 
marked  down  on  his  chart,  will  show  him  just  where  he  is  and  how  he  must  steer  to  find  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor. 

A  special  lighthouse  is  usually  the  object  sought,  and  in  approaching  New  York  harbor  it  is 
customary  for  steamers  from  Europe  to  first  find,  or  sight.  Fire  Island  Lighthouse.  This  is  on  a 
sand}  island  near  the  coast  of  Long  Island.  When,  therefore,  the  liner  steams  in  sight  of  Fire 
Island  Light  she  hoists  two  signals,  one  of  which  tells  her  name  and  the  other  the  welfare  of 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


225 


DAY-MARKS  IN  NEW  YORK   HARBOR. 

those  on  board.  The  operator  then  telegraphs  to  the  ship's  agents  in  New  York  that  she  has 
been  sighted,  and  that  all  on  board  are  well  or  otherwise.  [Other  despatches  go  to  the 
newspapers,  who  have  observing  stations  and  telegraph  arrangements  here  and  at  Sandy  Hook.] 
The  ship's  course  is  then  laid  to  reach  the  most  prominent  object  at  the  harbor  entrance, 
in  this  case  Sandy  Hook  Lightship.  She  is  easily  recognized.  The  course  from  this  lightship 
to  the  harbor  entrance  is  laid  down  on  the  chart  "  west-northwest,  one  quarter  west,"  and,  steer- 
ing this  course,  a  group  of  three  buoys  is  reached.  One  is  a  large  "  nun,"  or  cone-shaped,  buoy, 
painted  black  and  white  in  vertical  stripes ;  another  has  a  triangular  framework  built  on  it,  and 
in  the  top  of  this  framework  is  a  bell  which  tolls  mournfully  as  the  buoy  is  rocked;  while  the 
third  is  surmounted  by  a  big  whistle.  .  .  .  These  mark  the  point  where  ocean  ends  and  harbor 
begins,  and  can  be  found  in  fair  weather  or  in  fog  by  their  color  and  shape,  or  noise.  They  are 
the  mid-channel  buoys  at  the  entrance  to  Gedney  Channel,  the  deep-water  entrance  to  New 
York  harbor.  Here  it  may  be  noted  that  mid- channel  buoys  in  all  harbors  in  the  United  States 
are  painted  black  and  white  in  vertical  stripes,  and,  being  in  mid-channel,  should  be  passed  close 
to  by  all  deep-draft  vessels.     At  this  point  the  pitot  takes  charge. 

Ahead  the  water  seems  now  to  be  dotted  in  the  most  indiscriminate  manner  with  buoys  and 
beacons,  and  on  the  shores  around  the  harbor,  far  and  near,  there  seem  to  be  almost  a  dozen 
lighthouses.  If,  however,  you  watch  the  buoys  as  the  pilot  steers  the  ship  between  them,  you 
will  soon  see  that  all  those  passed  on  the  right-hand  side  are  red,  and  all  on  the  left  are  black. 
Where  more  than  one  channel  runs  through  the  same  harbor,  the  different  channels  are  marked 
by  buoys  of  different  shapes.  Principal  channels  are  marked  by  "  nun  "  buoys,  secondary  chan- 
nels by  "  can  "  buoys,  and  minor  channels  by  "  spar  "  buoys. 

Gedney  Channel  is  a  short,  dredged  lane  leading  over  the  outer  bar,  or  barrier  of  sand,  which 
lies  between  harbor  and  ocean.  Its  buoys  are  lighted  at  night  by  electricity,  through  submarine 
cables,  the  red  ones  with  red  lights,  the  black  ones  with  white  lights.  Moreover,  a  little  light- 
house off  to  the  left,  known  as  Sandy  Hook  Beacon,  has  in  its  lamp  a  red  sector  which  throws  a 


NUN  BUOYS. 


CAN  BUOYS. 


1  f 

SPAR   BUOYS. 


226  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

red  beam  just  covering  Gedney  Channel.  Thus  this  channel  can  be  passed  through  in  safety  by 
night  as  well  as  by  day.  If  it  is  night  the  pilot  knows  when  he  is  through  it  by  the  change  of 
color  in  Sandy  Hook  Beacon  light  from  red  to  white.  Then  he  looks  away  past  that  light  to  his 
left  for  two  fixed  white  hghts  on  the  New  Jersey  shore  and  hillside,  known  as  Point  Comfort 
Beacon  and  Waackaack  Beacon,  for  he  knows  that  by  keeping  them  in  range,  that  is  to  say,  in 
line  with  one  another  and  himself,  and  by  steering  toward  them  he  is  in  the  main  ship  channel. 
By  day  the  main  ship  channel  buoys  would  guide  him,  as  in  Gedney  Channel,  but  at  night  these 
buoys  are  not  lighted. 

Only  a  short  distance  is  now  traversed  when  the  ship  comes  to  a  point  where  two  unseen 
channels  meet.  This  is  indicated  by  a  buoy  having  a  tall  spindle,  or  "  perch,"  surmounted  by  a 
latticed  square.  From  here,  if  she  continues  on  her  course,  she  will  remain  in  the  main  ship- 
channel,  which,  although  deeper,  is  a  more  circuitous  route  into  port;  so,  if  she  does  not  draw 
too  much  water,  she  is  turned  somewhat  to  the  right,  and,  leaving  the  buoy  with  the  perch  and 
square  on  her  right,  because  it  is  red,  she  is  steered  between  the  buoys  which  mark  Swash 
Channel.  If  it  were  night  this  channel  would  be  revealed  by  two  range-lights  on  the  Staten 
Island  shore  and  hillside,  known  as  Elm  Tree  Beacon  and  New  Dorp 
Beacon,  both  being  steady-burning,  white  lights ;  but  we  are  entering 
by  daylight,  and  when  half-way  through  Swash  Channel  we  notice  a 
buoy  painted  red  and  black  in  horizontal  stripes.  To  this  is  given  a 
wide  berth  by  the  pilot.  It  is  an  "obstruction"  buoy  marking  a  shoal 
spot  or  a  wreck. 

Channel  buoys  are  all  numbered  in  sequence  from 
the  sea  inward,  the  red  ones  with  even,  and  the  black 
ones  with  odd  numbers,  and  the  larger  ones  are  an- 
chored with  "  mushrooms  "  while  the  smaller  have  "  sink- 
ers "  of  iron  or  stone.  They  are  made  of  iron  plates  in 
water-tight  compartments,  so  that  if  punctured  by  an  over-running  ship  or 
some  other  accident,  they  will  not  be  likely  to  sink.  In  harbors  where  ice 
forms  in  winter,  large  summer  buoys  are  replaced  in  winter  by  a  smaller  sort 
less  liable  to  be  torn  adrift.  Buoys  do  go  adrift,  however,  now  and  then,  and 
sometimes  take  a  voyage  across  the  ocean  or  far  down  the  coast  before  they  can 
be  found  by  the  tenders  of  the  Lighthouse  Service,  which  is  constantly  looking 
after  these  and  other  marks.  Lieutenant  Ellicott  tells  us  that  all  changes  in 
the  position  of  buoys  or  lightships,  or  the  placing  of  new  buoys  to  mark  a 
change  of  channel,  or  an  obstruction,  are  published  promptly  in  pamphlets 
called  "  Notices  to  Mariners,"  which  are  distributed  as  quickly  as  possible 
through  well  organized  means  of  communication.  A  few  years  ago  one  of 
the  largest  of  our  handsome  new  cruisers  was  approaching  New  York 
harbor  from  the  West  Indies  in  a  light  fog.  Sandy  Hook  Lightship  had 
been  found,  the  usual  course  laid  for  Gedney  Channel,  and  the  ship  was 
steaming  onward  at  full  speed,  her  captain,  having  been  inspector  of  that 
very  lighthouse  district  but  a  short  time  before,  feeling  that  he  knew  his 
way   into    that  port  better   than   the   most   experienced   pilot.      Presently, 


OBSTRUCTION  BUOY, 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP  2  2/ 

however,  he  was  startled  by  the  alarming  cry  oi  breakers  ahead!  A  large 
hotel  also  loomed  up,  and,  as  the  ship  was  backed  full  speed  astern,  all 
hands  realized  that  they  had  barely  escaped  running  high  and  dry  on  Rock- 
away  Beach.  When  the  vessel  got  into  port  it  was  learned  that  Sandy 
Hook  Lightship  had  been  moved  considerably  from  its  old  position,  and 
that  the  notice  of  this  change  had  failed  to  reach  the  captain  of  the  cruiser 
before  he  sailed  from  the  West  Indies, 

Shipwrecks  still  occur,  however,  in  spite  of  lighthouses  and  sirens  and 
buoys  and  coast-surveys;  therefore  we  add  to  our  precautions  arrangements 
to  help  those  cast  away.  Societies  to  save  wrecked  persons  have  existed, 
it  is  said,  for  many  centuries  in  China,  but  in  Europe  they  are  hardly  a 
hundred  years  old.     The  early  humane  societies,  like  that  of  Great  Britain, 


A  WHISTLING  BUOY,  OUT  OF   COMMISSION. 

placed  life-boats  and  rescuing  gear  in  certain  shore  towns,  and  organized 
crews,  who  promised  to  go  out  to  the  aid  of  any  lost  ship,  and  to  take,good 
care  of  the  persons  rescued. 

In  America,  however,  our  coasts  are  so  extensive,  and  so  much  of  the 
dangerous  part  of  them  is  far  away  from  villages,  or  even  a  farmhouse,  that 
the  government  has  been  obliged  to  do  whatever  was  necessary.  Thus 
came  about  the  Life  Saving  Service,  which  now  has  its  stations  close 
together  along  our  whole  sea-coast,  and  upon  the  great  lakes,  covering 
more  than  ten  thousand  miles  in  all. 

Each  of  these  stations  is  a  snug  house  on  the  beach,  tenanted  by  a 
keeper  and  six  men,  all  of  whom  are  chosen  for  their  skill  in  swimming,  and 
in  handling  a  boat  in  the  surf — something  every  man  who  "follows  the  sea" 
cannot  do  successfully.      Beaching  a  boat  through  surf  is  an  art. 

During  all  the  season,  from  October  till  May,  two  men  from  each  station 
are  incessantly  patrolling  the  beach  at  night,  each  walking  until  he  meets  the 


228 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


patrolman  from  the  next  station.  No  matter  how  foul  the  weather,  these 
watchmen  are  out  until  daylight  looking  for  disasters.  The  moment  they 
discover  a  vessel  ashore,  or  likely  to  become  disabled,  they  summon  their 
companions  and  hasten  to  launch  their  boat.  These  boats  are  of  two  kinds. 
On  the  lakes  and  on  the  steep  Pacific  coast  is  used  the  very  heavy  Eng- 
lish life-boat,  fitted  with  masts  and  sails  if  necessary,  which  a  steam  tug  is 

required  to  tow  to  the  scene  of  the 
wTeck,  unless  it  is  close  in  shore. 
But  upon  our  flat,  sandy  Atlantic 
beaches  only  a  lighter  kind  of  surf- 
boat,  made  of  cedar,  can  be  handled. 
This  is  built  with  air-cases  at  each 
end  and  under  the  thwarts,  so  that 
it  cannot  sink.  The  station  men 
drag  it  on  its  low  wagon  to  the 
scene  of  its  use,  unless  horses  are  to 
had,  and  when  it  is  launched 
they  sit  at  the  six  oars,  each 
with  his  cork  belt  buckled 
around  him,  and  his  eye 
fixed  on  the  steersman,  who 
stands  in  the  stern,  ready 
to  obey  his  slightest  motion 
of  command,  for  rowing 
through  the  angry  waves 
that  dash  themselves  on  a 
storm-beaten  beach  is  a  mat- 
ter requiring  extraordinary 
skill  and  strength.  Then,  when 
the  vessel  is  reached,  comes  an- 
other struggle  to  avoid  being 
struck  and  crushed  by  the  plunging  ship,  or  the  broken  spars  and  rigging 
pounding  about  the  hull.  But  skill  and  caution  generally  enable  the  crew 
to  rescue  the  unfortunate  castaways  one  by  one,  though  frequently  several 
trips  must  be  made,  in  each  one  of  which  every  surfman  risks  his  life,  and  in 
many  a  sad  case  loses  it;  yet  there  is  no  lack  of  men  for  the  service. 

It  is  a  common  occurrence,  however,  that  the  sea  will  run  so  high  that 
no  boat  could  possibly  be  launched.  Then  the  only  possibility  of  rescue  for 
the  crew  is  by  means  of  a  line  which  shall  bridge  the  space  between  the  ship 
and  the  land  before  the  hull  falls  to  pieces.     We  read  in  old  tales  of  wrecks 


PATROLMEN'    EXCHANGING   THEIR   CHECKS. 


DANGERS    OF    THE    DEEP 


229 


of  how  some  brave  seaman  would  tie  a  light  line  around  his  waist,  and  dare 
the  dreadful  waves,  and  the  more  dreadful  undertow,  to  save  his  comrades. 
If  he  got  safely  upon  the  beach,  he  drew  a  hawser  on  shore  and  made  it 
fast.      Now  we  do  not  ask  this ;   but  with  a  small  cannon  made  for  the  pur- 


SAVING  A   SAILOR   BY   MEANS   OF   THE   BREECHES-BUOY. 


pose,  a  strong  cord  attached  to  a  cannon-ball  is  fired  over  the  ship,  even 
though  it  be  several  hundred  yards  distant.  Seizing  this  line  as  it  falls  across 
their  vessel,  the  imperiled  sailors  haul  to  themselves  a  larger  line,  called  a 
**  whip,"  which  they  fasten  in  a  tackle-block  in  such  a  way  that  a  still  heavier 
cable  can  be  stretched  between  the  wreck  and  the  land  and  made  fast. 
15* 


230 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Then  by  means  of  a  small  side-line  and  pulleys  a  double  canvas  bag,  shaped 
like  a  pair  of  knee-breeches,  is  sent  back  and  forth  between  the  ship  and 
the  shore,  bringing  a  man  each  time,  until  all  are  saved.  Should  there  be 
many  persons  on  board,  though,  and  great  haste  necessary,  instead  of  the 
breeches-buoy  a  small  covered  metallic  boat,  called  the  life-car,  is  sent  out, 
into  which  several  persons  may  get  at  once.  These  varied  means  are  so 
skilfully  employed,  that  now  hardly  one  in  two  hundred  is  lost  of  those 
whose  lives  are  endanofered  on  the  American  coasts. 


THE 


CHAPTER  XI 

FISHING   AND    OTHER   MARINE   INDUSTRIES 

HE   grandest  sea-chase   is  that  after  the  whale  —  the  most 
gigantic  of  mammals,  the  most  extraordinary  in  appearance 
and  habits,  and   the  most  valuable  to  man,  for  the  capture 
of  one  may  mean  ten  times  as  much  reward  as  the  ivory  of 
an  elephant  or  the  rarest  otter-skin  would  afford,  and  per- 
haps a  hundred  times  as   much,   if  ambergris  be   found  within  its   body. 
Men  have  had  the  hardihood  to  chase  these  huge  and  often  savage  crea- 
tures  in   their  own  turbulent  element,  and  with  the  most   primitive  wea- 
pons, ever  since  the  art  of  navigation  was  acquired. 

The  Japanese  and  other  Asiatics  of  the  western  shore  of  the  North 
Pacific  have  dared  to  go  out  in  rowboats  and  attack  the  largest  whales 
since  the  origin  of  their  traditions,  and  they  had  a  method  of  entangling 
these  leviathans  in  nets,  which  must  have  produced  exciting  scenes,  as  the 
monster  struggled  amid  the  bloody  turmoil  of  waters  to  free  himself  from  the 
innumerable  connected  cords  that  embarrassed  his  movements,  rather  than 
subdued  his  strength,  until  his  life  ebbed  away  through  a  hundred  wounds. 
On  the  Alaskan  coast,  and  southward  as  far  as  Oregon,  the  Indians, 
and  especially  those  of  the  Queen  Charlotte  Islands  and  the  coasts  of  the 
Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  were  accustomed,  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of 
years  ago,  to  go  far  away  into  the  ocean  in  their  dug-out  canoes,  searching 
for  and  spearing  the  whales  with  lances  made  of  flint  or  bone,  having 
detachable  barbed  heads.  These  were  attached  to  shafts  by  rawhide  lines, 
and  to  the  shafts  were  attached  buoys  of  large  inflated  bladders.  When  the 
animal  was  struck,  the  heavy  pole  would  drive  the  lancehead  through  the 
skin  and  then  fall  off.  The  barbs  would  not  only  hold  the  instrument  there, 
but  cause  it  to  work  deeper  and  deeper,  and  the  whale,  darting  away  or 
diving,  would  be  so  impeded  by  dragging  the  poles  and  buoys  after  him, 
that  he  would  soon  return  to  receive  other  darts,  and  so,  between  loss  of 
blood  and  exhaustion,  would  ultimately  be  killed.     It  is  extremely  interest- 


232 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


ing  to  read  the  stories,  gathered  by  early  travelers  from  the  lips  of  the 
Indians, — old  Haidas  or  Makahs  are  living  yet  who   have   taken  part  in 


AN   OLD   WHALER. 


such  nerve-testing  canoe-chases, —  of  their  fights  with  this  gigantic  foe  far 
from  land,  and  their  hair's-breadth  escapes ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
many    quaint    ceremonies    were    devised    to    placate    the    waters    and    the 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES  233 

power  of  the  whale-god  in  advance,  and  to  honor  the  sea-hunters  when 
they  returned. 

The  Greenlanders  and  Eastern  Eskimos  do  not  seem  to  have  been  able 
in  their  small  skin  boats  to  conquer  the  largest  sort  of  whales,  but  the 
smaller  ones,  such  as  the  white  whale,  fell  to  their  spears  in  a  similar  way ; 
and  they  took  great  pains  to  secure  any  dead  or  stranded  cetacean  that 
came  within  their  reach,  the  bones  of  which  were  as  valuable  to  them,  in 
the  absence  of  wood,  as  were  the  flesh,  oil,  and  sinews. 

The  history  of  European  whaling  begins  with  the  excursions  of  the 
Basques,  who,  as  long  ago  at  least  as  the  tenth  century,  were  accustomed 
to  go  out  from  their  shore-towns  in  search  of  the  southern  right  whale 
which  frequents  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  its  ofling.  Doubtless  their  boats 
were  small,  half-decked,  lugger-rigged  "  shyppes,"  carrying  ten  to  fifteen 
men,  and  looking  much  like  many  of  the  Channel  fishermen  of  to-day.  This 
"fishery  "  supplied  all  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  with  the  whalebone 
and  oil  which  were  among  the  luxuries  of  the  rich  at  that  time ;  but  by  the 
time  the  sixteenth  century  had  arrived,  whales  had  become  so  scarce  in  the 
Eastern  Atlantic  —  where  now  they  are  almost  extinct  —  that  this  industry 
must  have  ceased  had  not  the  Cabots  shown  the  way  to  Newfoundland,  to 
whose  shores  the  Basques  at  once  extended  their  voyages  with  excellent 
results,  for  in  those  days  whales  were  commonly  seen  all  along  the  American 
shore  of  the  North  Atlantic.  But  this  remote  fishery  would  have  been  too 
precarious  and  costly  to  be  of  great  consequence  had  it  not  been  for  the 
early  efforts,  related  in  Chapter  V,  to  find  a  passage  to  the  East  north  of 
the  continents.  The  earliest  of  these  failed,  but  they  brought  back  reports 
that  the  edge  of  the  frozen  sea  abounded  in  whales,  and  men  rushed  into 
this  newly  discovered  field  of  wealth,  as,  centuries  later,  they  abandoned 
everything  in  headlong  haste  to  go  to  the  gold-fields  of  California,  Au- 
stralia,  South  Africa  or  the  Yukon  Valley. 

The  English  did  their  best  to  monopolize  the  whale  fishery  at  once,  but 
the  Dutch  sent  war-vessels,  and  in  a  fleet  action  almost  at  the  edge  of  the 
ice  in  1618  the  Dutch  conquered  and  opened  the  seas  to  all  comers,  while 
separate  districts  on  the  coast  of  Spitzbergen  were  assigned  to  each  nation- 
ality. The  English  interest  in  the  fishery  declined,  but  the  Dutch  increased 
their  attention  to  it,  taking  over  one  thousand  whales  each  year.  "About 
1680,"  we  read,  "  they  had  two  hundred  and  sixty  vessels  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand seamen  employed.  Their  fishery  continued  to  flourish  on  almost  as 
extensive  a  scale  until  1770,  when  it  began  to  decline,  and  finally,  owing  to 
the  war,  came  to  an  end  before  the  end  of  the  century."  The  Germans  were 
always  associated  with   them,    and   continued  to   send  a  whaling  fleet  to 


234 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Barentz  Sea  and  the  Jan  Mayen  waters  until  1873.  Meanwhile  the  Green- 
land whaling-grounds  had  begun  to  attract  British  whalemen,  followed  by 
the  Danes  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century ;  then  this  local  industry  fell 


WHALERS  TRYING  OIL  OUT  OF  BLUBBER. 


oft"  but  was  revived  about  1800,  remained  prosperous  for  many  years,  and  is 
still  the  support  of  Peterhead  and  a  few  other  Scotch  ports. 

The  abundance  of  whales  near  the  coast  was  one  of  the  prime  induce- 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES  235 

ments  held  out  to  colonists  by  North  America,  where  whales  often  ap- 
peared close  to  the  shore,  or  in  harbors,  as  occasionally  they  do  yet. 
Here,  at  first,  whale-fishing  was  pursued  wholly  in  rowboats  launched  from 
the  beach.  Many  shore  towns  owned  whaleboats  and  gear,  each  with  its 
trained  crew,  and  some  kept  a  regular  lookout,  day  by  day,  whose  duty  it 
was  promptly  to  announce  the  appearance  of  any  whale  in  the  offing.  Such 
was  the  case  at  Southampton,  Long  Island,  for  many  years,  and  even  now, 
occasionally,  the  town-crew  there  rushes  away  through  the  breakers  after 
some  stray  visitor  amid  the  excitement  of  the  whole  neighborhood,  but  this 
happens  only  at  intervals  of  several  years. 

Before  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  however,  the  people  of  Nan- 
tucket Island  were  wont  to  cruise  about  the  neighboring  ocean  for  right 
whales,  their  voyage  lasting  six  weeks  or  so  as  a  rule,  and  now  and  then 
they  would  pick  up  a  sperm  whale.  By  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  however,  sperm  whaling  was  no  longer  profitable  in  the  Northern 
Atlantic,  while  the  Greenland  grounds  were  overrun  by  European  ships. 
American  fishermen  therefore  turned  their  attention  to  the  West,  and  for 
many  years  confined  themselves  mainly  to  catching  the  sperm  whale,  find- 
ing at  first  their  best  "  grounds "  in  the  south-middle  Pacific.  When  the 
War  of  Independence  came  on,  Nantucket  was  the  leading  whaling-port  of 
the  country,  but  all  the  New  Englan^S  towns  were  more  or  less  engaged, 
and  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  sixty  vessels,  large  and  small,  were  out. 
The  Revolutionary  War  nearly  destroyed  the  industry,  and  before  it  could 
well  revive,  the  War  of  1812  again  subjected  the  whaling-ships  to  capture 
by  English  privateers  and  men-of-war  all  over  the  world.  After  that,  how- 
ever, they  spread  all  over  the  Southern  seas,  and  between  1840  and  1850 
more  than  seven  hundred  were  flying  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 

The  whaling  vessels  were  large,  stanch  craft,  usually  bark-rigged,  dis- 
tinguished by  their  old-fashioned  shape,  weather-stained,  smoky  appear- 
ance, enormous  boats  swinging  from  end  to  end  of  the  ship  from  lofty 
davits,  and  try-works  forward.  They  kept  longer  than  any  one  else  many 
relics  of  rigging,  custom,  and  language,  belonging  to  the  seamanship  of 
earlier  generations  ;  and  no  sea-peril  could  daunt  either  the  vessel  or  its 
crew.  They  would  sail  on  voyages  lasting  two  or  three  years,  and  some- 
times would  circumnavigate  the  globe  and  return  without  having  touched  at 
a  port.  As  a  rule,  however,  they  would  gain  part  of  a  cargo,  and  then  go 
to  some  port,  ship  it  to  London  or  New  York,  and  refit  for  a  new  voyage. 
The  profits  of  a  trip  were  thus  very  great  sometimes,  but  other  trips  were 
attended  only  by  expense  and  misfortune. 

The  capture  of  whales  in  those  days  had  more  danger  if  not  more  ex- 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES  237 

citement  than  now,  for  the  only  method  was  by  rowing  after  them,  helped 
by  the  sails,  in  the  28-foot,  double-ended  rowboats  made  for  the  purpose  (of 
which  every  vessel  carried  six  or  eight),  and  sinking  into  their  vitals  darts 
and  lances  until  they  died.  They  were  then  towed  to  the  vessel's  side,  held 
by  tackle  from  the  yard-arms  in  a  suitable  position,  and  cut  up.  The  oil  in 
early  days  was  packed  in  casks,  but  later  has  been  run  into  iron  tanks  built 
into  the  hold,  after  having  been  tried  out  of  the  blubber  in  the  great  caldrons 
set  in  brick  on  the  forward  deck,  which  gave  a  whaler  so  peculiar  an  appear- 
ance, at  all  times,  and  would  lead  any  one  to  suppose  her  on  fire  while  the 
process  of  trying-out  was  going  on,  and  the  great  volumes  of  black  smoke 
caused  by  the  use  of  whale-fat  and  waste  as  fuel  were  drifting  to  leeward. 

One  of  the  best  accounts  of  a  chase  published  is  that  by  the  late  Temple 
Brown,  of  the  United  States  Fish  Commission,  in  an  article  in  "The  Cen- 
tury" for  February,  1893,  from  which  I  am  permitted  to  make  an  extract: 

While  cruising  on  the  coast  of  New  Zealand,  one  day  about  11.30  a.  m.,  the  lookout  at  the 
main  hailed  the  deck  with :  "  Thar  sh'  b-1-o-w-s  !     Thar  sh'  b-1-o-w-s  !     Blows !     B-1-o-w-s !  " 

"  Where  away  ?  "  promptly  responded  the  officer  of  the  deck, 

"  Four  points  off  the  lee  bow!     Blows  sperm-whales!     Blows!     Blows!"  came  from  aloft. 

"  How  far  off?  "  shouted  the  captain,  roused  out  of  his  cabin  by  the  alarm,  as  his  head  and 
shoulders  appeared  above  deck.  "  Where  are  they  heading  ?  "  he  continued,  as  he  went  up  the 
rigging  on  all-fours. 

"  Blows  about  two  miles  and  a  half  off,  sir,"  replied  Mr.  Braxton,  the  mate,  looking  off  the 
lee-bow  with  his  glasse^  "and  coming  to  windward,  I  believe." 

*'  Call  all  hands !  "  said  the  captain.  "  Haul  up  the  mainsail,  and  back  your  main-yards. 
Hurry  up  there !     Get  your  boats  ready,  Mr.  Braxton !  " 

At  the  first  alarm  the  men  came  swarming  up  the  companionway  of  the  forecastle,  divesting 
themselves  of  superfluous  articles  of  clothing,  and  scattering  them  indiscriminately  about  the 
deck.  Rolling  up  their  trousers,  and  girding  their  loins  with  their  leather  belts,  taking  a  double 
reef  until  supper-time,  they  flitted  nervously  here  and  there  in  their  bare  legs  and  feet,  observing 
every  order  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  and  holding  themselves  in  readiness  to  go  over  the  side  of 
the  vessel  at  the  word  of  command.  There  is  a  certain  order,  systematic  action,  or  red  tape,  ob- 
served on  all  first-class  whaling-vessels,  however  imperfectly  disciplined  some  of  the  boat-crews 
may  be.  The  captain  indicates  the  boats  he  wishes  to  attack  the  whales;  the  boat-header  (an 
officer)  and  the  boat-steerer  (the  harpooner)  take  their  proper  positions  in  the  boat,  the  former  at 
the  stern  and  the  latter  at  the  bow,  while  suspended  in  the  davits.  At  the  proper  moment  the 
davit-tackles  are  run  out  by  men  on  deck,  and  the  boats  drop  with  a  lively  splash ;  the  sprightly 
oarsmen  meantime  leap  the  ship's  rail,  and,  swinging  themselves  down  the  side  of  the  vessel, 
tumble  promiscuously  into  the  boats  just  about  the  time  the  latter  strike  the  water.  Although  it 
may  be  said  that  there  is  a  general  scramble,  there  is  not  the  least  confusion.  Every  person  and 
thing  has  the  proper  place  assigned  to  it  in  a  whaleboat ;  the  officer  has  full  command,  but  he  is 
subject  to  the  orders  of  the  captain,  who  signals  his  instructions  from  the  ship,  usually  by  means 
of  the  light  sails.  The  manner  of  going  on  to  a  whale,  the  number  of  men  and  their  positions  in 
the  boat,  and  the  kind  of  instruments  and  the  manner  of  using  them,  have  been  perpetuated  in 
this  fishery  for  more  than  two  centuries. 

"  Clear  away  the  larboard  and  bow  boats ! "  shouted  the  captain.     "  Get  in  ahead  of  the 


238  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

whales,  Mr.  Braxton,  if  you  can.  Here,  cook,  you  and  cooper  lend  a  hand  there  with  them 
davy-taycles.     Are  you  ready?     Hoist  and  swing  your  boats." 

Down  went  the  larboard  boat  and  the  bow  boat  almost  simultaneously. 

"  Shove  off!  Up  sail !  Out  oars !  Pull  ahead !  "  were  the  orders  from  Mr.  Braxton,  the 
officer  of  the  larboard  boat,  in  rapid  succession.  "  Let 's  get  clear  of  the  ship.  Come,  bear  a 
hand  with  that  sail,  do,"  he  added,  coaxingly,  with  his  eye  on  the  third  mate's  boat.  "  Don't 
let  'em  get  in  ahead  of  us." 

"All  right,  sir;  here  you  go,  sheet,"  replied  Vera,  the  harpooner,  a  well-developed  and  in- 
telligent American-Portuguese,  with  his  accustomed  good  spirits. 

Hastily  laying  aside  his  paddle,  like  a  tiger  couchant,  with  eager  eyes  upon  his  prey,  he 
picked  up  his  harpoon,  and  stood  erect,  his  tall,  muscular  frame  swaying  above  the  head  of  the 
boat.  He  placed  his  thigh  in  the  clumsy-cleat, —  a  contrivance  to  steady  the  harpooner  against 
the  motions  of  the  waves, —  and  with  his  long,  springy  arms  turned  and  balanced  the  harpoon- 
pole  previous  to  poising  the  instrument  in  the  air.  .  .  .  Under  the  motive  power  of  sail  and 
paddle  the  space  between  the  boat  and  whale  was  rapidly  diminishing,  and  apparently  they 
would  soon  come  into  collision.  The  enormous  head  of  the  cetacean,  as  it  plowed  a  wide  fur- 
row in  the  ocean,  and  the  tall  column  of  vapor  rising  from  the  blow-holes,  as  it  spouted  ten  or 
twelve  feet  in  the  air,  were  to  be  seen  right  ahead ;  the  expired  air,  as  it  rushed  like  steam  from 
a  valve,  could  be  heard  near  by ;  the  bunch  of  the  neck  and  the  hump  were  plainly  visible  as 
they  rose  and  fell  with  the  swell  of  the  waves;  and  the  terrible  commotion  of  the  troubled 
waters,  fanned  by  the  gigantic  flukes,  left  a  swath  of  foaming  and  dancing  waves  clearly 
outlined  upon  the  surface  of  the  sea.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Braxton  laid  the  boat  off  gracefully  to  starboard,  and  the  mastodonic  head  of  a  genu- 
ine spermaceti  whale  loomed  up  on  our  port  bow.  The  junk  was  seamed  and  scarred  with  many 
a  wound  received  in  fierce  and  angry  struggles  for  supremacy  with  individuals  of  its  own  species, 
or  perhaps  with  the  kraken ;  the  foaming  waters  ran  up  and  down  the  great  shining  black  head, 
exposing  from  time  to  time  the  long,  rakish  under-jaw;  but  what  small  e^'^es! 

"  Now !  "  shouted  the  officer,  as  if  Vera  was  a  half-mile  off,  instead  of  about  twenty-five 
feet.  "  Give  him  some,  boy !  Give  him  — !  "  But  his  well-trained  and  faithful  harpooner  had 
already  darted  the  harpoon  into  the  glistening  black  skin  just  abaft  the  fin ;  the  boat  was  envel- 
oped in  a  foam-cloud  —  the  "  white  water "  of  the  whalemen,  stirred  up  by  the  tremendous 
flukes  of  the  whale. 

"Stern  all  I "  shouted  the  officer;  and  the  boat  was  quickly  propelled  backward  by  the 
oarsmen,  to  clear  it  from  the  whale.     "  Are  you  fast,  boy  ?  " 

"Fust  iron  in,  sir;  can't  tell  second,"  replied  Vera;  but  the  zip-zip-zip  of  the  line  as  it 
fitirly  leaped  from  the  tub  and  went  spinning  round  the  loggerhead  and  through  the  chocks, 
sending  up  a  cloud  of  smoke  produced  by  friction,  indicated  the  presence  of  healthy  game. 

"  Wet  line  !  wet  line  !  "  shouted  Mr.  Braxton,  as  he  went  forward  to  kill  the  whale,  and  Vera 
came  aft  to  steer  the  boat,  unstepping  the  mast  on  his  way ;  for  all  whales  are  now  struck  under 
sail.  Ihe  whale,  however,  soon  turned  flukes,  and  went  head  first  to  the  depths  below.  Mean- 
time, the  other  whales  had  taken  the  alarm,  and  with  their  noses  in  the  air,  were  showing  a 
"  clean  pair  of  heels  "  to  windward. 

The  boat  lay  by  awaiting  the  "  rising  "  of  the  cetacean.  Twenty  minutes  passed,  twenty- 
five,  stroke-oarsman  began  to  feel  hungry;  thirty,  thirty-five,  and  still  the  line  was  either  slowly 
running  out  or  taut;  but  soon  it  began  to  slacken.  "Haul  hne !  haul  hne ! "  said  the  officer, 
peering  into  the  water.  "  He  's  stopped."  The  line  was  retrieved  as  fast  as  possible  and  care- 
fully laid  in  loose  coils  on  the  after  platform.  "Haul  line,  he  's  coming!  Coil  line  clear, 
^'era  !  "  said  Mr.  Braxton,  shading  his  eyes  with  his  hand  and  looking  over  the  gunwale  at  an 
immense  opaque  spot  beginning  to  outline  itself  in  the  depths  below. 


DRAWN    BY   W.  TABER. 


FAST  TO  A  WHALE. 


ENGRAVED    BY   J.    W.    EVANS. 


240 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


"  Look  out !     Here  he  comes  !     Stem  all !     Look  out  for  whale !  " 

But  the  mate's  injunctions  were  received  too  late.  The  whale,  fairly  out  of  breath,  came 
up  with  a  bound  and  a  puff,  scattering  the  water  in  all  directions,  and  catching  the  keel  of  the 
boat  on  the  bunch  of  its  neck.  The  boat  bounded  from  this  part  of  the  whale's  anatomy  to 
the  hump,  and,  careening  to  starboard,  shot  the  crew  first  on  the  whale's  side  and  then  into  the 
water.  The  stroke-oarsman  now  began  to  feel  wet.  The  whale,  terrified  beyond  measure  by 
the  tickling  sensation  of  the  little  thirty-foot  boat  creeping  down  its  back,  caught  the  frail  cedar 
craft  on  one  comer  of  its  flukes,  and  tossed  it  gracefully,  but  perhaps  not  intentionally,  into  the 
air,  as  one  would  play  with  a  light  rubber  ball.  As  the  boat  descended,  with  one  tremendous 
"  side  wipe  "  of  the  mighty  caudal  fin,  and  with  a  terrible  crash  that  was  heard  on  the  ship  nearly 
two  miles  away,  the  whale  smashed  it  into  kindling-wood. 


A  WHALE-BOAT   CUT   IN   TWO. 


This  is  only  one  of  the  exciting  tales  Mr.  Brown  has  to  tell,  and  the  his- 
tory of  whaling  in  every  country  could  add  many  more.  He  tells  us  that 
approaching  a  whale  at  all  times  is  like  going  into  battle,  and  says  that 
many  of  the  deeds  remembered  by  old  hands  were  purely  heroic,  since  the 
danger  might  have  been  avoided  by  declining  to  attack  the  animal  under 
the  especially  hazardous  conditions  that  often  present  themselves. 

The  persecution  suffered  by  whales  of  all  kinds  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
made  the  more  valuable  kinds  so  scarce  by  the  middle  of  the  present  century 
that  many  voyages  were  almost  fruitless,  not  only  by  reason  of  small  catches, 
but  because  the  substitutes  invented  for  whalebone,  and  the  constantly  in- 
creasing use  of  mineral  oils  had  lowered  prices  to  an  almost  ruinous  level. 
The  American  fleets  suffered  with  the  rest,  until  during  the  Civil  War  they 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES  24 1 

were  nearly  swept  from  the  seas  by  the  ravages  of  the  Shenandoah  and  other 
Confederate  privateers. 

Since  then  there  has  been  only  a  partial  revival,  accompanied  by  a  good 
many  changes.  A  few  Scotch  and  German  whalers  still  go  to  the  northern 
seas,  working  in  the  ice,  and  some  American  vessels  from  the  Eastern 
States,  and  a  greater  number  from  California  search  the  Pacific  and  the 
waters  off  Alaska.  All  or  nearly  all  of  these  whalers  are  provided  with 
steam-propellers,  having  an  arrangement  by  which  they  can  lift  the  screw 
out  of  water  and  use  their  sails  for  ordinary  purposes.  Many«of  them  chase 
with  a  steam-launch  instead  of  the  old-fashioned  whaleboats,  and  save  their 
men  the  back-straining  labor  of  towing  a  prize  perhaps  two  or  three  miles 
to  the  ship.  In  place  of  the  hand  harpoon  they  have  several  forms  of  swivel- 
guns  and  shoulder-guns  discharging  harpoons  and  explosive  darts  by  gun- 
powder, so  that  a  large  share  of  the  danger  as  well  as  the  labor  is  saved  to 
modern  whalemen,  who  are  also  much  better  housed  and  fed  in  their  large 
iron  steamships  than  those  used  to  be  who  wrestled  with  scurvy  in  the  grim 
old  hulks  of  half  a  century  ago. 

The  ships  that  go  up  through  Davis  Straits  now  frequently  winter  there, 
in  order  to  be  on  hand  in  May  to  meet  the  whales  that  appear  in  the  first 
open  water,  to  which  the  men  drag  their  boats  over  the  ice  between  their 
ships  and  the  first  open  channels.  For  the  same  purpose  many  vessels  of 
the  American  fleet  are  accustomed  to  pass  the  winter  in  company  under  the 
shelter  of  islands  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River.  Here  they  have 
a  rendezvous  where  buildings  have  been  erected  and  means  for  social  com- 
fort have  been  established,  such  as  billiard  tables,  books,  etc.  These  west- 
ern vessels  do  not  force  their  way  into  and  through  the  ice,  as  do  those 
among  the  eastern  archipelagoes,  but  operate  in  comparatively  open  water, 
as  long  as  it  lasts,  along  the  edge  of  the  paleocrystic  ice.  Delaying  the  de- 
parture of  those  who  mean  to  return  to  the  Pacific  and  home  until  the  last 
moment,  it  occasionally  happens  that  some  are  caught  and  frozen  in.  These 
are  usually  destroyed,  but  thus  far  their  crews  have  managed  to  escape 
either  to  more  fortunate  vessels  or  to  the  shore,  where,  at  Point  Barrow, 
the  government  has  built  and  keeps  furnished  a  strong  house,  with  stores, 
fuel,  and  provisions,   as  a  refuge  for  shipwrecked  mariners. 

Walrus-hunting  is  not  much  followed  nowadays  by  civilized  seamen, 
though  the  animal  is  still  of  great  value  to  the  Eskimo  and  Siberians.  It 
has  become  very  scarce  in  easily  accessible  waters,  but  is  occasionally  taken 
by  whalers,  who  find  a  market  for  the  ivory  of  its  tusks. 

Sealing  is  an  industry  which  still  claims  considerable  attention  from  the 
Scandinavians  and  Scotchmen  who  go  to  the  coasts  and  waters  about  Spitz- 


242  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

bergen,  Jan  Mayen,  and  Greenland,  as  well  as  to  nearer  resorts,  in  pursuit 
of  several  species  yielding  oil  and  valuable  hides ;  and  in  the  North  Pacific 
the  pursuit  of  the  fur  seal  still  occupies  many  small  vessels,  but  seems  likely 
to  come  soon  to  an  end.     Antarctic  seals  are  practically  extinct. 

The  industry  of  fishing  is  probably  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  world,  and  it 
remains  among  the  most  important,  for  the  fisheries  not  only  furnish  a  vast 
amount  of  nutritious  and  pleasant,  yet  remarkably  cheap,  food,  but  many 
other  things  useful  to  mankind.  Hence  it  is  not  strange  to  find  that  in  all 
the  early  reports  of  the  discovery  of  new  lands  and  waters  that  followed  one 
another  so  rapidly  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  eighteenth  centuries,  the  fish 
and  other  sea-animals  to  be  found  were  always  given  a  prominent  place  in 
the  list  of  valuable  assets  pertaining  to  each  locality.  Even  the  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese,  in  their  insane  rush  for  gold  and  silver,  to  the  neglect  and 
ruin  of  everything  else,  had  to  pay  some  little  attention  to  fishing  and  allied 
industries  in  both  the  East  and  West  Indies  ;  while  in  the  case  of  the  ex- 
ploitations of  new  regions  by  the  calmer,  more  prudent  people  of  western 
Europe  —  the  British,  French,  Dutch  and  Scandinavians, —  the  value  of  the 
harvest  of  the  sea  was  really  more  in  view,  at  first,  than  that  of  the  land,  at 
least  when  they  began  to  visit  and  colonize  North  America.  Take,  as  an 
example,  the  history  of  St.  Pierre,  Miquelon,  and  the  others  that  form  a 
group  of  islets  in  the  Gulf  of  Newfoundland,  half  way  between  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island  and  Newfoundland.  Mr.  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin,  in  whose  "  Cruise 
of  the  Alice  May''  you  may  find  many  interesting  and  picturesque  mate- 
rials for  an  account  of  them,  tells  us  a  French  settlement  was  begun  on 
St.  Pierre  as  early  as  1 604,  and  that  tradition  says  the  islands  were  resorted 
to  by  the  Basques  two  centuries  before  that,  as  is  very  likely  true. 

In  1 7 13  the  colony  numbered  three  thousand  souls,  and  had  become  a  very  important  fish- 
ing port.  In  that  very  year  St.  Pierre  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain,  together  with  Newfoundland, 
the  French  being  merely  allowed  permission  to  dry  their  fish  on  the  adjacent  shores.  But  when 
the  victory  of  Wolfe  resulted  in  the  loss  of  Canada  to  France,  she  was  once  more  awarded  this 
little  group  of  isles  lying  off  Fortune  Bay,  to  serve  as  a  depot  for  her  fishermen.  The  French 
now  gave  themselves  in  earnest  to  developing  the  cod-fisheries,  determined,  apparently,  that 
what  they  had  lost  on  land  should  be  made  up  by  the  sea.  In  twelve  years  the  average  exporta- 
tion of  fish  amounted  to  six  thousand  quintals,  giving  employment  to  over  two  hundred  smacks, 
sailed  by  eight  thousand  seamen.  The  English  recaptured  the  isles  in  1778,  destroyed  all  the 
stages  and  store-houses,  and  forced  the  inhabitants  to  go  into  exile.  The  peace  of  Versailles  re- 
stored St.  Pierre  to  France  in  1783,  and  the  fugitives  returned  to  the  island  at  the  royal  expense. 
riie  fisheries  now  became  more  prosperous  than  ever,  when  the  war  of  '93  once  more  brought 
the  English  fleets  to  St.  Pierre.  Again  the  inhabitants  were  forced  to  fly.  By  the  peace  of 
Amiens,  in  1802,  France  regained  possession  of  this  singularly  evanescent  possession,  and  lost  it 
the  following  year,  when  the  town  was  destroyed.  In  1816  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  were  finally 
re-ceded  to  France,  in  whose  power  they  have  ever  since  remained. 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES 


243 


CURING  FISH   AT  ST.  PIERRE. 


As  these  islands  were  of  no  use  to  any  one  for  any  other  purpose,  all  this 
struggle  for  their  possession  was  in  order  to  retain  the  privilege  and  naval 
control  of  fishing  in  those  waters.  The  French  government  has  carefully 
fostered  this  interest  ever  since,  and  now  the  islands  not  only  have  a  settled 
population  of  several  thousand,  but  at  the  height  of  the  season  sometimes 
as  many  as  ten  thousand  strangers  (sailors  and  fishermen)  congregate  at 


244  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

the  principal  port,  St.  Pierre,  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  centers 
in  the  world  for  the  marketing,  curing,  and  export  of  sea-caught  fish. 

Of  all  waters  those  of  the  North  Atlantic  seem  to  excel  in  useful  fishes ; 
from  the  oil-shark  hand-lining  off  the  coast  of  Lapland,  or  the  sardine- 
catching  of  Spain,  to  Yankee  sword-fishing,  this  ocean  is  alive  with  fish  and 
fishermen,  on  both  sides  and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

The  whole  coast  of  Norway  supports  this  industry,  especially  around  the 
far  northern  Lafoden  Islands.  The  North  Sea,  shallow  and  cold,  is  the 
home  of  many  valuable  species  that  are  sought  by  extensive  fleets  from 
Denmark,  Holland,  and  the  north  of  France,  while  thousands  of  British  sail- 
ors make  a  living  along  their  own  eastern  coasts  and  among  the  islands 
north  of  Scotland ;  but  the  waters  on  all  sides  of  the  British  Isles  are  fish- 
ing waters,  especially  the  English  and  Irish  channels  and  the  western  lochs 
of  Scotland ;  the  herring-catch  alone  is  worth  eight  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  a  year,  while  Great  Britain's  mackerel-catch  amounts  to  two  mil- 
lions, and  her  share  of  the  codfishery  to  another  two  millions.  Nearly 
half  of  all  the  products  of  British  fisheries  are  obtained  by  the  use  of  the 
beam-trawl  —  a  huge  dredge-like  bag-net,  handled  and  towed  by  steamers 
in  pretty  deep  water,  which  scoops  in  everything  near  the  bottom,  where 
the  most  desirable  sea-fishes  stay.  Among  the  prizes  are  the  turbot  and 
sole  —  toothsome  and  valuable  species  not  known  along  American  shores. 

More  southerly  are  the  profitable  fisheries  for  pilchards,  sprats,  and 
especially  sardines  —  little  fishes  taken  in  vast  numbers  and  canned  or  pre- 
served in  various  ways.  The  abundance  of  sardines,  a  recent  writer  tells 
us,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  Spanish  fishermen  take  annually 
about  one  hundred  thousand  tons  of  these  little  fishes,  having  a  value  of 
from  $400,000  to  $600,000.  A  peculiar  method  of  capturing  the  sardines 
at  night  prevails  in  the  Adriatic.  The  location  of  the  shoals  offish  is  liter- 
ally felt  out  by  a  light  sounding-line,  and  by  means  of  the  attraction  of  a 
fire  of  resinous  pine  the  fish  are  slowly  coaxed  into  some  creek  or  estuary 
and  surrounded  with  a  seine.  The  demand  for  wood  for  use  in  this  and 
other  night  fisheries  causes  a  serious  drain  on  the  neighboring  pine-forests. 

The  great  fishery  of  the  Mediterranean,  however,  is  that  for  tunnies  — 
huge  fishes  allied  to  mackerel,  sometimes  weighing  several  hundredweight, 
and  regarded  in  America  as  poor  food.  They  have  been  taken  by  means 
of  pounds  and  strong  enclosing  nets  ever  since  classical  antiquity,  and  pre- 
served tunny  flesh  is  still  popular  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  North  Africa,  while 
the  same  fish  is  the  object  of  one  of  the  principal  sea-industries  of  Japan. 

But  important  as  are  the  catching,  preserving,  and  utilization  of  these 
and  many  other  European  fishes,  they  are  far  outranked  by  the  marine  fish- 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES 


245 


eries  for  the  cod  and  its  relatives,  the  haHbut,  haddock,  hake,  etc.,  in 
waters  about  Newfoundland,  Labrador,  and  Iceland,  where  also  great 
quantities  of  mackerel,  herring,  and  other  food  fishes  are  regularly  obtained. 


HAND-LINE   FISHING   ON   THE   GRAND   BANKS. 


The  principal  grounds  are  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  which  have  been 
resorted  to  for  more  than  three  hundred  years  by  men  from  both  continents. 
The  Banks  of  Newfoundland  are  a  series  of  shoals  —  submerged  islands, 
in  fact  —  which  lie  off  the  northeastern  coast  of  America  from  Cape  Cod  to 
the  farther  end  of  Newfoundland.     The  shallowness  of  the  water  over  them 


246  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

makes  them  advantageous  places  for  fishing,  because  many  of  the  species 
caught  remain  near  the  bottom,  and  in  deep  water  are  therefore  beyond 
convenient  reach.      It  is  possible,  also,  to  anchor  there  —  often  a  necessity. 

But  just  here  are  presented  some  of  the  worst  perils  to  which  fisher- 
men are  exposed.  Nowhere  are  old  ocean's  storms  worse  than  on  these 
Banks,  where  the  sand  is  sometimes  stirred  five  hundred  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. The  best  fishing  comes  in  winter  —  the  season  of  the  heaviest  gales. 
The  vessels  must  anchor  close  together,  too,  for  the  areas  of  good  fishing 
are  small,  and  if  one  breaks  its  hawser,  or  the  anchor  drags,  there  is  great 
danger  of  drifting  afoul  of  some  neighbor,  which  is  likely  to  end  in  the  de- 
struction of  both.  Then  there  is  ever  present  the  danger,  in  these  latitudes 
of  almost  ceaseless  fog,  of  being  run  down  by  the  transatlantic  steamers,  in 
whose  track  the  fishing  fleets  must  anchor.  The  skipper  keeps  his  bell 
tolling,  or  a  great  horn  blowing,  but  if  a  steamer  comes  down  the  wind  her 
lookout  will  hardly  be  able  to  hear  it  before  it  is  too  late  to  stop  or  change 
the  course  of  the  monster  rushing  at  full  speed  through  the  thickness  of 
mist  and  flying  spray.  "  Before  anything  can  be  done  the  relentless  iron 
prow  cuts  into  the  schooner,  which  for  a  moment  quivers  and  then  disappears 
into  the  depths.  .  .  .  One  of  these  great  iron  ships  might  cut  the  bows  off 
a  fishing  schooner  of  sixty  or  eighty  tons  and  not,  perhaps,  experience  a 
sufficient  shock  to  alarm  the  passengers  sleeping  calmly  in  their  staterooms." 

The  vessels  which  go  upon  this  perilous  quest  are  the  stanchest,  swiftest, 
and  withal  handsomest  little  vessels  that  sail  our  seas.  Their  rig  is  adapted 
to  this  purpose,  and  spreads  almost  as  much  canvas  as  a  racing-yacht, 
which,  in  fact,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  has  been  modeled  from  Banks 
fishermen.  The  best  of  them  probably  are  those  hailing  from  Gloucester, 
Mass.,  and  these  are  never  used  for  any  other  purpose. 

The  old-fashioned  hand-line  fishing,  such  as  still  holds  a  place  in  the 
mackerel  fisheries  —  although  even  there  it  has  given  way  in  most  vessels  to 
purse-netting, —  is  no  longer  practised  in  the  American  codfishery,  which 
now  uses  the  trawl-line  altogether,  by  which  the  men  have  added  to  the 
hardship  and  danger  of  their  adventurous  life  as  well  as  to  its  profits. 

This  trawl  is  not  a  huge  dredge  as  is  the  beam-trawl  of  the  North  Sea 
fishermen,  from  which  it  has  unfortunately  copied  its  name,  but  is  a  strong 
rope  between  three  and  four  hundred  feet  long,  having  at  each  end  an 
anchor  and  a  flag-buoy.  It  is  so  arranged  that  when  it  is  stretched  out  and 
anchored  the  line  will  be  several  fathoms  beneath  the  surface.  To  this  line, 
at  intervals  of  six  feet  or  so,  are  hung  short  lines,  each  carrying  a  stout 
hook.  When  the  fishing-ground  has  been  reached,  the  captain  anchors  his 
vessel,  or,  if  the  weather  permits,  he  sails  gently  to  and  fro.     Previously,  six 


FISHING    AND    OTHER    MARINE    INDUSTRIES 


247 


trawls  have  been  baited  with  clams  brought  from  home,  and  one  put  in  each 
of  the  six  small  boats  which  the  vessel  carries.  Two  men  now  put  off  in 
each  of  these  boats  and  anchor  the  trawls  at  convenient  distances  from  each 
other,  in  such  a  way  that  the  trawl-line,  with  its  fringe  of  hooks,  shall  be 


A  FISHING  SCHOONER  "  HOVE  TO "   IN  A  GALE  ON  THE  BANKS. 


Stretched  taut  and  at  the  proper  depth.  How  long  they  stay  down  depends 
on  the  weather  —  five  or  six  hours,  or  from  evening  until  morning,  is  the 
usual  period.  Then  the  men  go  out,  and  taking  up  the  anchors  at  one  end, 
haul  each  trawl  into  the  boat,  coiling  it  in  the  bottom  and  taking  off  the 
hooks  each  captive  fish  as  fast  as  they  come  to  it. 


248 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


Simple  as  this  sounds,  it  is  terribly  hard  work.  The  trawls  are  heavy 
and  stiff,  and  armed  with  dangerously  sharp  hooks.  The  busiest  season  is 
midwinter,  and  no  dread  of  cold  or  danger  must  stop  the  fisherman,  who 
boldly  ventures  in  his  little  dory  into  the  teeth  of  a  howling  snow-storm 
and  fast  increasing  gale,  piling  the  water  "mountain-high"  about  him  and 
encasing  his  body  in  a  sheet  of  icy  spray ;  this  must  he  do,  in  spite  of  dis- 
comfort and  the  imminent  risk  of  death,  if  he  would  save  from  destruction 
his  valuable  trawls  and  the  booty  they  may  have  hooked  for  him.  A  fine 
day  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  is  a  rare  thing ;  fog  and  snow  and  icy 
gales  are  the  rule,  and  only  the  boldest  courage,  endurance,  and  skill 
will  enable  a  man  to  resist  that  ocean  and  wrest  from  it  his  self-support. 
A  vivid  picture  of  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  fishing  on  the  Banks  is  to 
be  found  in  Rudyard  Kipling's  story,  "  Captains  Courageous." 

The  intrepid  and  skilful  voyages  of  our  whalers  and  fishermen,  daring 
every  fatigue  and  danger  in  the  open  sea,  have  been  schools  for  the  best 
seamen  of  the  world.  Every  nation  is  glad  to  draw  these  sailors  into  their 
navies,  and  it  is  they  who  make  the  bravest  yet  most  cautious  captains  of 
our  merchant  marine,  showing  to  their  comrades  and  to  landsmen  splendid 
examples  of  heroism  and  fortitude.  This  is  the  schooling  I  meant  when  I 
said  that  in  its  industries  we  get  not  only  food,  but  formation  of  character, 
from  old  Ocean, —  and  this  is  the  highest  result  attainable  from  either 
land  or  sea. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    PLANTS    OF    THE    SEA    AND    THEIR    USES 

HE  ocean  was  the  home  of  the  first  living  thing,  either  plant 
or  animal,  that  appeared  on  our  planet ;  seaweeds  and  salt- 
water animals  are  found  in  much  older  rocks  than  any  that 
contain  the  fossils  of  land  life.  Moreover,  though  called  a 
"wide  waste  of  waters,"  and  seeming  a  complete  desert  as 
we  gaze  upon  its  restless  surface  on  a  dull  morning,  there  is  a  greater 
number  of  animals  and  plants  by  count,  and  quite  as  large  a  variety,  under 
the  waves  as  above  them,  and  the  bottom  of  the  sea  —  at  all  events  near  its 
margin  —  is  more  populous  than  any  bit  of  woods  you  ever  saw. 

There  exists  in  our  ponds  and  ditches  a  race  of  plants  so  minute  that  it 
requires  a  powerful  microscope  to  examine  them.  Under  this  instrument 
it  is  seen  that  they  have  delicate,  flinty  shells  or  armor,  which  is  of  a  great 
variety  of  forms, —  coiled,  globular,  boat-shaped,  spindle-like,  and  so  on, — 
and  always  beautifully  sculptured.  These  minute  and  beautiful  diatoms,  as 
they  are  called,  move  about  freely,  and  were  long  supposed  to  be  animals : 
now  they  are  known  to  be  the  simplest  of  seaweeds,  consisting  of  only  one 
cell.  Since  life  first  began,  these  diatoms,  and  other  microscopic  plants 
much  like  them,  have  swarmed  not  only  in  the  fresh  waters,  but  in  all  the 
oceans  of  the  globe,  furnishing  food  for  mollusks  and  all  the  lowly  animals 
whose  food  is  brought  into  their  mouths  by  the  currents.  Innumerable,  and 
as  wide-spread  as  the  salt  water  itself,  every  one  of  these  myriads  of  minute 
plants  has  left  a  record ;  for  its  delicate,  glass-like  shell  was  indestructible, 
and  when  the  bit  of  life  was  lost,  it  sank  slowly  down  to  the  bottom.  What 
effect  toward  perx:eptible  sediment  could  come  from  a  thing  so  small  that  it 
would  scarcely  be  felt  in  your  eye  ?  One  or  two,  or  even  a  million,  would 
go  for  little ;  but  century  after  century,  through  ages  too  long  for  us  to 
comprehend,  a  steady  rain  of  these  exquisitely  engraved  particles  of  flint 
showered  down  upon  the  still  sea-floor,  almost  as  thickly  as  you  have  seen 
motes  in  a  sunbeam,  until  there  was  deposited  a  layer,  many  feet  in  thick- 


250  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

ness,  of  nothing  but  diatom-skeletons.  Though  this  went  on  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  everywhere  in  the  sea,  such  deposits  are  not  now  to  be  dis- 
covered everywhere,  because  disturbing  causes  swept  the  shells  away,  or 
broke  up  the  floor  after  it  had  been  laid  down ;  but  in  various  parts  of  the 
world  to-day,  you  may  find  wide  beds  of  rock  made  up  wholly  of  such 
skeletons,  soldered  together  into  hard  stone ;  while  in  some  regions  the 
mud  of  our  sea-bottom  appears  to  consist  of  almost  nothing  else.  The 
mighty  chalk  cliffs  of  Great  Britain  and  the  French  coast  were  built  up  in 
precisely  this  way  at  the  bottom  of  an  ancient  sea,  whence  they  have  been 
lifted,  but  they  are  composed  of  much  besides  diatoms. 

From  the  simplicity  of  diatoms  the  vegeta'tion  of  the  sea  can  be  traced 
upward  through  larger  and  more  complicated  kinds  of  plants  until  we  reach 
the  enormous  algse  that  break  the  gloom  of  black  headlands  by  their  bril- 
liant tints,  and  furnish  a  lurking-place  under  their  wide-spreading  and 
dense  foliage  for  hosts  of  marine  animals  —  some  hiding  for  safety,  others 
to  watch  for  prey. 

Seaweeds  grow  in  all  latitudes,  even  close  to  the  pole,  but  mainly  along 
the  shore,  for  below  the  depth  of  about  one  hundred  fathoms  none  but 
microscopic  forms  are  known.  These  latter  float  about,  of  course,  and 
many  of  them  have  been  thought  to  be  animals  because  they  seem  able  to 
move  at  their  own  will.  They  come  to  the  surface  as  well  as  haunt  the 
depths ;  and  the  Red  Sea  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that  a  minute  car- 
mine-tinted alga  occasionally  rises  to  the  surface  in  throngs  so  dense  and 
wide  as  to  tinge  the  water  for  miles  at  a  stretch.  The  same  thing  occurs 
in  the  Pacific,  where  the  sailors  call  it  "sea-sawdust." 

The  proper  home  of  the  seaweed,  however,  is  a  rocky  shore  between 
tide-marks  or  just  below  them,  and  it  is  because  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
United  States  is  deficient  in  rocks  —  at  least  south  of  Cape  Cod  —  that 
this  is  poor  in  algse,  compared  with  other  regions.  The  seaweed  has  no 
roots,  and  only  clings  to  the  rock  for  support ;  shifting  sand  therefore  would 
not  hold  it,  and  there  are  great  sandy  deserts  under  the  ocean,  bare  of  algae, 
as  some  land  regions  are  sandy  deserts  naked  of  terrestrial  plants. 

It  often  happens,  however,  that  masses  of  weed  will  be  torn  away  from 
their  moorings  and  set  adrift.  This  does  not  necessarily  kill  them,  for  they 
go  on  flourishing  while  afloat,  and  such  is  supposed  to  be  the  origin  of  those 
great  areas  of  "gulfweed"  vegetation  in  mid-ocean  called  "sargasso  seas." 
You  will  remember  that  a  branch  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  striking  over  toward 
the  Moorish  coast  of  Africa,  is  turned  southward  there,  and  sweeps  down  to 
the  equator,  then  westward  again,  circumscribing  a  broad  region  in  the 
middle  Atlantic  whose  only  currents  go  round  and  round  in  a  slow  whirl- 


THE    PLANTS    OF    THE    SEA    AND    THEIR    USES  25 1 

pool ;  and  here  it  is  that  the  gulfweed  concentrates  in  masses  sometimes 
dense  enough  to  impede  the  progress  of  a  ship — Columbus  reported  among 
the  wonders  of  his  first  voyage  the  trouble  he  had  in  sailing  through  it  — 
and  covering  an  area  between  the  Azores  and  the  Bahamas  as  large  as  the 
Mississippi  valley.     This    is   the    Sargasso   Sea   ordinarily  referred   to   in 


THE  MARBLED  ANGLER  ON  ITS  GULFWEED  RAFT. 

books,  but  it  is  not  the  only  one.  A  thousand  miles  west  of  San  Francisco 
there  is  a  similar  collection  of  floating  plants,  and  others  exist  under  like 
conditions  in  the  southern  oceans. 

These  floating  meadows,  as  it  were,  are  chosen  as  the  abode  of  a  long 
list  of  animals  that  rarely  quit  the  safety  and   plenty  of  their  precincts. 


252 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 


Among  these  are  innumerable  pretty  jelly-fishes,  sea-worms,  and  mollusks 
without  shells,  which  cling  to  the  buoyant  plants,  and  perhaps  feed  solely 
upon  them.  Here  are  to  be  had  in  abundance  the  fairy-like,  rare  pteropods, 
the  richly  purple  janthinas  towing  their  curious  rafts  of  eggs,  and  no  end  of 
small  crabs.  Here  a  small  fish,  something  like  a  perch,  spends  his  whole 
time  building  a  nest  like  a  bird's  in  the  tangled  weed-masses,  and  carefully 
guarding  his  treasures  against  the  large  marauding  fishes  that  haunt  the 
place  to  the  dread  of  its  peaceful  inhabitants ;  and  here  those  far-flying 

birds,  the  wandering  albatross  and 
the  petrels,  hover  about  in  search  of 
something  to  capture  and  eat.  The 
Sargasso  Sea  is  an  extremely  interest- 
ing part  of  the  ocean,  except  to  the 
luckless  sailor  becalmed  and  balked 
in  its  midst,  as  was  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins when  he  penned  the  following 
quaint  observations,  some  three  cen- 
turies ago : 


Were  it  not  for  the  Moving  of  the  Sea,  by 
the  Force  of  Winds,  Tides  and  Currents,  it  would 
corrupt  all  the  World.  The  Experience  of  which 
I  Saw  Atuio  1590,  lying  with  a  Fleet  about  the 
Islands  of  Azores,  almost  Six  Months,  the  great- 
est Part  of  the  time  we  were  becalmed,  with 
which  all  the  Sea  became  so  replenished  with 
several  sorts  of  Gellies  and  Forms  of  Serpents, 
Adders  and  Snakes,  as  seem'd  Wonderful ;  some 
green,  some  black,  some  yellow,  some  white, 
some  of  divers  Colours,  many  of  them  had  Life, 
and  some  there  were  a  Yard  &  a  half,  &  some 
two  Yards  long;  which  had  I  not  seen,  I  could 
hardly  have  believed. 

In  favorable  places  a  surprising 
variety  of  seaweeds  can  be  picked  out, 
and  books  exist  by  which  you  may 
learn  the  method  of  classification  and 
names  of  the  different  species,  the 
chief  of  which,  for  America,  is  Harvey's  splendid  work,  published  by  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  Not  only  in  the  shape  and  colors  of  the  fro7ids 
(as  the  leaf-like  expansions  or  branching  tufts  of  the  stem  are  called)  do 
seaweeds  differ  greatly  among  themselves,  but  in  size,  varying  from  many 


A   PIECE   OF  GULFWEED. 

inhabited  by  two  sea-slugs,  protected  by  their  resemblance 
to  its  leaflets,  and  by  small  crustaceans,  hydroids,  etc. 


THE    PLANTS    OF    THE    SEA    AND    THEIR    USES  253 

diminutive  or  even  microscopic  sorts  to  the  cable-like  growths  of  California, 
which  would  measure  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length  if  stretched  out. 

Algse,  as  I  have  said,  constitute,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  whole 
vegetation  of  the  salt  water,  together  with  a  large  part  of  the  vegetation  in 
fresh  water ;  and  they  serve  the  same  useful  purpose  there  that  land-plants 
do  for  the  dry  parts  of  the  globe,  continually  making  and  throwing  off  the 
oxygen  which  is  necessary  to  keep  the  water  as  well  as  the  air  pure.  To 
this  end  they  do  a  very  important  work. 

This  is  not  the  whole  of  their  service  in  ocean  matters,  however.  I 
think  it  may  be  said  that  if  it  were  not  for  seaweeds  animals  could  not  live 
in  the  ocean,  as  truthfully  as  that  if  it  were  not  for  herbage  no  animals 
would  be  able  to  exist  on  land.  Seaweeds  are  fed  upon  directly  by  all 
sorts  of  salt-water  life,  from  moUusks  as  big  as  your  thumb  to  turtles  the 
size  of  a  dining-table,  and  they  make  a  shelter  for  thousands  of  little  fellows 
who  never  leave  their  shadow. 

But  this  is  a  small  part  of  the  story.  The  diatoms,  and  other  minute 
plants  like  them,  form  the  main  portion,  if  not  all,  of  the  food  of  a  large 
number  of  sponges,  polyps,  mollusks,  and  other  stationary,  sluggish  crea- 
tures, that  otherwise,  so  far  as  I  see,  would  not  be  able  to  live  at  all. 
These,  in  turn,  are  fed  upon  by  larger  predaceous  animals.  Thus,  though 
the  fishes  and  cetaceans  may  never  bite  a  seaweed  themselves  (those  large 
marine  herbivores,  the  manatee  and  dugongs,  subsist  almost  wholly  upon  it, 
however),  they  depend  for  food  upon  creatures  that  do.  We  may  say,  there- 
fore, that  the  algae  form  the  basis  of  all  ocean  life. 

Men  have  been  able  to  make  marine  plants  of  service  to  them  also 
—  a  resource  more  important  formerly  than  now.  In  the  last  century,  for 
example,  the  kelp  trade  was  the  one  great  industry  of  the  islands  at  the 
west  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  employing  thousands  of  persons,  and  paying 
vast  revenues  to  the  lordly  owners  of  the  shores.  Kelp  is  the  name  of  any 
large,  leathery  sort  of  seaweed,  whose  leaves  float  at  or  near  the  surface, 
supported  by  bladder-like  expansions;  but  in  this  case  the  word  meant  the 
ashes  of  any  seaweed  dried  in  the  sun  and  then  slowly  burned  in  kilns, 
clouding  the  air  with  huge  volumes  of  strongly  odorous  smoke.  The  slow 
burning  of  the  seaweed  left  the  ashes  fused  into  a  solid  mass,  which  was 
broken  up  like  stone  before  being  sold.  In  France  this  substance  was 
called  varec ;  and  in  Spain,  where  the  algae  were  mixed  with  beach-plants, 
cultivated  for  the  purpose,  and  burned  in  shallow  pits  in  the  ground,  it  went 
to  market  as  barilla. 

In  those  days,  kelp  ash  was  the  only  source  of  the  valuable  alkali  soda 
needed  in  manufacturing  glass  and  soap.     Then  a  French  chemist  discov- 


254 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


ered  how  to  make  such  soda  out  of  common  salt,  and  the  kelp  ovens  were 
abandoned,  except  a  few  in  Scotland,  supplying  the  demand  for  iodine  and 
several  other  chemicals  contained  in  this  residuum  which  is  so  rich  in  iodine, 
used  in  photography  and  in  medicine,  that  a  ton  of  kelp  ash  will  sometimes 
yield  twenty  pounds;  yet  only  about  100,000  pounds  are  now  produced  in 
this  way,  while  five  times  as  much  is  obtained  by  chemical  treatment  of 
Chile  saltpeter.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  barbarous  people  have  long  chewed 
seaweeds  as  a  remedy  in  diseases  for  which  physicians  now  prescribe  iodine. 
Iodine  is  a  violet  dye,  and  the  bluish  and  purple  tints  of  many  algae,  shells, 
and  sea-animals  appear  to  be  due  to  the  large  amount  of  this  element  in 
sea-water. 

Seaweeds  and  other  marine  plants,  like  eel-grass,  are  collected  in  great 
quantities  by  farmers  in  all  parts  of  the  world  to  be  used  as  a  fertilizer. 

Shell-mud,  dead  fish,  and  other  marine  products  are 
also  of  high  value  as  manure,  on  account  of  the 
large  proportion  of  lime,  carbon,  and  soda  which 
they  contain.  Indeed,  there  is  a  kind  of  seaweed 
growing  at  great  depths  called  the  nullipore,  which 
takes  up  scr  much  lime  from  the  water  that  its  sub- 
stance becomes  almost  like  stone,  so  that  the  plant 
retains  its  shape  and  full  size  when  dried.  Some  of 
these  nullipores  are  beautifully  fan-shaped,  scarlet 
or  pink,  and  are  often  seen  in  museums,  marked 
corallines. 

To  return  to  the  gathering  of  seaweeds  by  far- 
mers, nowhere  is  it  more  customary  than  in  some 
parts  of  New  England.  Thus  the  well-known 
Second  Beach,  just  east  of  Newport,  is  in  the  fall 
of  the  year  the  scene  of  a  vast  activity  in  this  di- 
rection. "  It  may  easily  happen,"  we  are  told, 
"that  the  pilgrim  to  Whitehall,  topping  the  hill 
on  a  brilliant  autumn  morning,  shall  come  upon 
a  scene  in  which  quiet  plays  no  part.  The  sea- 
weed, that  harvest  which,  ripening  without  labor,  is  neither  bought  nor  sold, 
is  setting  inshore  under  the  urgings  of  wind  and  tide,  and  scores  of  farmers 
have  crowded  to  the  spot  to  gather  it.  An  artist  could  hardly  wish  a  better 
subject  for  his  pencil  than  one  of  these  wild  harvestings  —  the  plunging 
horses,  forced  far  out  into  the  surf,  their  slow  return,  half  swimming,  half 
wading,  dragging  the  heavily  loaded  rakes  which  leave  behind  them  a  long 
furrow  of  foam,  the  heaped-up  kelp  glistening  in   the  sunshine,  the  oxen, 


SEAWEEDS. 

Laminaria  digitata.     2.  L.  longi- 
cruris. 


THE    PLANTS    OF    THE    SEA    AND    THEIR    USES  255 

yoked  by  fours,  waiting  for  their  load,  the  shouts  of  the  men,  the  dash,  the  ex- 
citement, and  beyond  and  above  all,  the  wonderful  blues  and  iridescent  greens 
which  are  the  peculiar  property  of  Newport  waters  and  the  Newport  sky." 

Cattle  and  horses  that  are  accustomed  to  rough  pastures,  like  the 
Scotch  and  Irish  moors,  eat  seaweed  and  thrive  on  it,  especially  as  winter 
fodder,  and  from  several  species  are  derived  dishes  for  our  own  tables.  The 
Irish  moss,  or  carrageen, —  which  is  not  a  moss  at  all,  but  a  seaweed, —  is 
the  most  important  of  these,  and  grows  on  both  sides  of  the  northern  At- 
lantic. In  England  the  market  supply  comes  chiefly  from  the  western  coast 
of  Ireland,  while  Massachusetts  Bay  gives  America  all  that  is  wanted,  prin- 
cipally the  red,  coral-like  Chondrus  crisptis.  The  little  port  of  Scituate,  Mas- 
sachusetts, is  the  chief  point  of  supply,  where  many  thousands  of  pounds 
are  gathered.  In  early  June,  two  or  three  hundred  men  and  women, go  to 
the  rocks  at  low  tide  and  pick  off  the  small  brown  plants,  each  man  getting 
about  a  barrel  in  one  day's  work.  When  the  tide  rises,  the  people  get  into 
small  boats  and  pull  up  the  moss  with  rakes. 

The  moss  gathered  each  day  is  taken  to  the  beach,  where  a  gravelly 
space  has  been  prepared,  and  is  spread  out  to  lie  bleaching  during  all  of  the 
next  day,  when  it  is  taken  up,  washed  in  tubs,  and  again  spread  out.  The 
washing  and  drying  in  the  sun  continue  for  seven  days,  by  which  time  it 
has  bleached  to  a  yellowish  white.  In  cookery,  jellies,  blanc  mange,  and 
various  methods  of  boiling  in  milk  and  mixing  in  soups  are  used  to  make  it 
palatable.  Besides  being  of  value  for  food,  carrageen  serves  to  make  sizing 
used  by  paper-makers,  cloth-printers,  hatters,  and  so  on,  to  clarify  beer  in  the 
brewery  vats,  as  a  medicine,  and  to  make  bandoline  for  stiffening  the  hair. 

Other  species  beside  the  Irish  moss  serve  as  food  in  Europe,  generally  in 
a  raw  state,  often  proving  the  only  salty  relish  which  the  Irish  peasant  has 
to  eat  with  his  potatoes.  One  of  these  is  the  dulse  of  the  Scotch  (the 
dillisk  of  Ireland),  which  also  abounds  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  is  there 
made  into  a  soup.  The  natives  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  eat  algae,  which 
are  extraordinarily  abundant  and  varied  in  Oriental  latitudes ;  and  the  poor 
among  the  Japanese  and  in  the  interior  of  China,  where  the  weed  is  sent 
dried,  prize  it  especially,  because  it  has  a  sea  flavor  and  saves  salt,  which 
with  them  is  a  costly  luxury.  These  people  mix  it  with  vegetables  and 
other  materials,  to  form  thick,  delicious  soups  and  dressings.  A  peculiarly 
bad-smelling  sauce,  prepared  from  seaweed,  is  among  the  exports  China 
sends  to  Europe  as  a  condiment. 

Along  the  shores  from  Japan  to  Sumatra  grows  an  alga  which  the  natives 
of  those  coasts  dry  and  keep  as  long  as  they  please.  When  the  substance 
is  wanted  they  steep  some  of  the  dried  pieces  in  hot  water,  where  the  weed 


256  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

dissolves,  and  then,  having  been  taken  off  the  fire,  stiffens  into  a  glue  which 
is  said  to  be  the  strongest  cement  in  the  world. 

A  kind  of  false  isinglass,  also,  is  a  product  of  the  Eastern  seaweeds,  and 
it  not  only  enters  into  the  pastry  and  confectionery  of  Chinese  bakers,  but 
serves  to  varnish  and  glue  thin  paper  and  to  stiffen  the  light  transparent 
gauzes  of  fine  silk  used  in  making  Oriental  screens,  fans,  hangings,  etc., 
so  that  painters  can  decorate  them.  With  a  poorer  quality  the  bamboo 
stretchers  of  paper  umbrellas,  lanterns,  and  various  toys  are  smeared  to  give 
them  hard  and  polished  surfaces. 

Seaweed  has  also  been  used  in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  and  its  com- 
plete success  in  this  branch  of  industry  is  as  yet  hindered  only  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  perfect  bleaching.  Certain  species  of  it  are  utilized  in  enormous 
quantities  by  upholsterers  as  stuffing  for  sofas,  chairs,  and  mattresses;  in 
Japan  it  is  formed  into  a  substitute  for  window-glass;  ornaments  and  small 
articles  of  use,  like  knife-handles,  are  made  by  several  nations  out  of  large 
dried  seaweeds ;  and,  finally,  albums  of  preserved  fronds  are  one  of  the 
prettiest  things  to  be  found  in  a  naturalist's  cabinet. 

The  great  majority  of  seaweeds  grow  between  tide-marks,  and  they 
undoubtedly  perform  an  important  service  in  preventing  the  wear  and  tear 
of  the  coast  in  many  situations.  Some,  however,  grow  in  much  deeper 
waters,  and  these,  also,  may  serve  as  breakwaters  of  no  mean  strength. 
Such  is  the  case,  for  instance,  at  San  Pedro,  near  Los  Angeles,  California, 
where  the  abundant  growth  offshore  forms  such  a  barrier  to  the  ocean  roll- 
ers as  to  turn  the  open  roadstead  into  a  calm  harbor  within  it. 

This  belongs  to  the  group  of  gigantic  kelps  of  which  those  at  the  Falk- 
land Islands  and  about  Tierra  del  Fuego  are  other  and  noted  species.  Were 
it  not  for  the  growth  of  this  strong,  cable-like,  buoyant  plant,  large  numbers 
of  other  plants  and  sfca-animals  would  find  it  impossible  to  exist  exposed  to 
the  violence  of  the  South  Pacific  waves.  Sometimes  the  stems  reach 
twelve  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  the  bladders  by  which  the  immense 
fronds  are  buoyed  up  are  as  big  as  kegs. 

This  gigantic  seaweed  is  plentiful  all  along  the  Pacific  coast  of  America 
to  Alaska,  and  the  natives  of  our  northwest  coast  used  to  make  extensive 
use  of  it  in  the  way  of  ropes,  etc.  It  was  from  this  weed  that,  by  a  careful 
preparation,  they  made  the  lines  for  their  harpoons  and  deep-sea  fishing ; 
and  the  bladders  furnished  them  ready-made  receptacles  for  eulachon  oil, 
for  water  for  their  seatrips,  and  for  other  liquids. 

A  California  correspondent  of  the  New  York  "Evening  Post"  gave  a 
pretty  picture,  not  long  ago,  of  one  of  the  kelp  patches  at  St.  Nicholas 
Island,  where  the  beds  of  this  wonderful  plant  reach  out  for  a  mile  or  more, 


THE    PLANTS    OF    THE    SEA    AND    THEIR    USES 


257 


growing  up  from  the  rocks  below  and  forming  an  effectual  break ;  the  seas 
losing  their  force  in  their  effort  to  pass  through  the  submarine  meshwork. 

The  vines  constitute  a  veritable  forest,  and,  drifting  over  it  in  fifty  or  sixty  feet  of  water,  you 
may  see  a  perfect  maze  of  stems  with  broad  leaves  waving  gracefully  in  the  current,  forming 
arbors,  arches,  and  colonnades.  Here,  poised  idly,  in  rich  contrast  to  the  olive-hued  mass,  may 
be  seen  fish  of  a  bright  golden  color,  others  in  tints  of  blue  and  green.  The  sea  swell  coming 
in  causes  an  undulatory  movement,  and  the  long  colonnades  seem  to  melt  one  into  another,  reap- 
pearing in  different  shapes.  When  the  leaves  reach  the  surface,  the  shore  wind,  sweeping  down 
from  the  hills,  lifts  them  from  the  water,  and  they  flutter  in  the  air  like  mimic  sails.  Each  leaf  is 
a  study.     Many  are  encrusted  with  a  delicate  bryozoon,  which  presents  the  effect  of  white  lace 


DIATOMS,  MAGNIFIED,   IN   A   DROP   OF  WATER. 

upon  the  surface,  while  a  close  inspection  will  reveal  minute  anemones,  coiled  tubular  worms, 
which  throw  out  flower-like  organs  of  exquisite  beauty ;  while  flat  shells  lie  among  them,  and 
crawling  here  and  there  are  marvels  of  animal  life,  shell-less  mollusks,  which  so  mimic  the  weed 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  distinguish  them. 

This  protective  feature  is  a  characteristic  of  life  among  the  kelp  forests  that  fine  the  entire 
Pacific  shores  of  North  and  South  America,  many  animals  simulating  it  so  perfectly  in  color  that 
the  best-trained  eyes  often  fail  to  observe  them.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  crabs  and  shell- 
less  mollusks  The  latter  have  not  only  assumed  the  exact  tint  of  the  weed,  but  are  often  cov- 
ered with  barbels  of  flesh  that  simulate  the  tangles  of  the  substance.  Upon  the  backs  of  the 
crabs  are  singular  markings  in  green  and  white,  which  so  resemble  the  minute  incrustations  of 
the  kelp  that  the  resultant  protection  is  complete.  [Compare  illustration  on  page  252.]  Each 
vine  is  fastened  to  a  stone,  and  the  clinging  roots  shelter  hordes  of  creatures  of  various  kinds  — 
deep-water  crabs,  octopods,  starfishes,  and  a  host  of  others. 


A   MARINE   NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA 

HE  primitive  idea  of  the  ocean  was  that  it  was  a  vast  desert, 
and  a  strange  disbeHef  in  its  being  inhabited  by  more  than 
the  very  few  forms  that  everybody  was  compelled  to  recog- 
nize persisted  up  to  quite  modern  times  among  those  who 
should  have  known  better.  Pliny  boldly  asserted,  for  exam- 
ple, that  nothing  remained  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  unknown  to  him 
after  he  had  made  a  list  of  1 76  marine  animals !  But  now  we  know  that 
the  sea  teems  with  living  beings  as  densely  as  do  the  fresh  waters  or  the 
air.  In  it  began  the  life  of  the  globe,  for  the  fossil  records  of  the  rocks  show 
that  the  first  animals  lived  in  the  ocean,  and  that  ages  passed  before  any  of 
them  began  to  people  the  newly  formed  lands  and  breathe  the  atmosphere  in- 
stead of  the  air  in  the  water ;  and,  abundant  as  oceanic  life  now  is,  the  paleo- 
zoic seas  held  immensely  greater  hordes,  of  which  many  forms  were  giants  as 
compared  with  those  of  our  day.  Some  of  the  old  straight  chambered  shells 
were  twelve  feet  long ;  and  I  have  seen  fossil  ammonites,  extinct  relatives 
of  our  coiled  pearly  nautilus,  which  when  alive  must  have  been  too  heavy  for 
a  man  to  lift.  The  fishes,  too,  could  tell  great  stories  of  the  glory  of  their 
ancestors  in  size  and  strength  and  numbers.  Some  of  them  wore  solid  coats 
of  mail  upon  their  heads,  and  could  do  battle  even  with  the  huge  swim- 
ming reptiles  that  were  the  dreaded  tyrants  of  the  Mesozoic  deep. 

Life  in  the  ocean  in  those  old  geologic  days  was  a  long  guerrilla  warfare 
—  every  animal  guarding  against  attack,  and  at  the  same  time  watching 
sharply  for  an  opportunity  to  seize  and  prey  upon  some  weaker  companion. 
As  for  the  foraminifers  and  other  microscopic  creatures,  they  were  countless, 
and  their  skeletons,  singly  invisible,  have  by  accumulation  built  up  great 
masses  of  rock,  like  the  chalk-beds  of  England  and  France. 

Though  lessened  in  numbers  and  reduced  in  size,  because  the  land  has 
gradually  won  over  to  its  side  many  sorts  of  animals  which  in  former  ages 
were  exclusively  confined  to  the  water,  and  for  other  reasons,  the  sea  still 

2S9 


26o  THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 

holds  its  share  of  every  "branch"  and  "class"  (except  birds,  and  it  may 
almost  claim  some  of  them,  such  as  the  albatross,  penguins,  and  petrels),  and 
a  majority  of  the  "orders"  of  animal  life.  Glance  at  the  catalogue:  Fora- 
minifers,  sponges,  and  polyps  are  chiefly  confined  to  salt  water ;  starfishes, 
urchins  (or  sea-eggs),  and  the  like,  wholly  so :  mollusks  (next  higher) 
are  principally  oceanic,  and  the  majority  of  the  crabs  inhabit  salt  water. 
Among  the  last-named  one  species,  the  common  horse-foot  (^Limuhis) 
of  our  shores,  remains  as  the  solitary  representative  of  that  immense  and 
varied  group,  the  trilobites,  which  so  crowded  the  Paleozoic  sea-bottom 
that  some  rocks  —  for  instance,  the  limestones  of  Iowa  —  are  packed  al- 
most as  full  of  their  fossils  as  is  a  raisin-box  of  raisins. 

None  of  the  insects  is  truly  marine,  yet  some  of  them  are  seafaring, 
truly,  for  they  spend  their  lives  on  drifting  sea-wrack,  or  on  beaches  just 
out  of  reach  of  the  tides  ;  but  most  of  the  true  worms  are  dwellers  in  the 
mud  of  sea-shores  and  sea-bottoms.  No  one  knows  of  any  land  fishes  ; 
but  I  need  not  tell  you  that  fishes  throng  in  the  fresh  waters  as  well  as  in 
the  salt,  and  that  many  species  inhabit  both  at  different  seasons. 

In  respect  to  the  reptiles,  of  which  the  ancient  oceans  contained  gigantic 
and  horrid  types,  I  do  not  know  any  now  that  are  truly  oceanic  except  the 
turtles,  if  you  leave  out  the  "sea-serpent,"  of  which  we  hear  so  many  won- 
derful and  not  quite  satisfactory  tales.  You  will  hear  of  "  sea-snakes "  in 
the  East  Indies,  but  they  are  only  certain  kinds  of  serpents  which  swim 
well,  and  pass  the  most  of  their  time  in  the  salt  water,  as  several  species 
of  our  own  country  do  in  the  rivers  and  ponds ;  all  the  oriental  sea-snakes 
are  venomous. 

It  is  in  this  manner,  too,  that  we  may  count  certain  birds,  such  as  the 
petrels,  auks,  penguins,  albatrosses,  frigate-birds,  and  their  kin,  as  belonging 
to  the  ocean.  They  spend  all  their  life  flying  over  the  waves,  seeking 
their  food  there,  and  some  of  them  rarely  go  ashore,  except  to  lay  their  eggs 
and  hatch  their  young  on  remote  rocks,  resting  and  sleeping  on  the  billows, 
when  not  busy  at  their  hunting.  In  the  highest  rank  of  all,  however,  the 
mammals,  several  families  are  natives  of  the  "  great  deep  "  —  the  whales, 
dolphins,  and  porpoises,  the  seals  and  walruses,  and  the  manatees  and 
dugongs.  But  all  these  must  come  to  the  surface  to  breathe,  not  having 
gills  like  fishes,  but  true  lungs. 

As  it  is  only  within  the  last  thirty  years  that  machinery  suitable  for 
deep-sea  dredging  has  been  invented,  so  it  is  only  lately  that  we  have  been 
able  to  learn  much  as  to  the  population  of  the  ocean  beneath  the  surface 
layer  and  marginal  shallows.  Now  by  means  of  beam-trawls,  dredges, 
tangle-bars,  etc.,  worked  by  steam-machinery  on  shipboard,  naturalists  may 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA 


261 


scrape  up  the  bottom-ooze  and  obtain  living  objects  or  their  bony  relics  at 
the  depth  of  even  3000  to  4000  fathoms  or  more  than  four  miles,  for  living 
beings  are  found  in  these  profound  abysses.  Many  scientific  expeditions, 
such  as  those  of  the  English  exploring  steamer  Challenger,  about  1874, 
have  carried  out  these 
dredging  investigations, 
and  the  United  States  Fish 
Commission  possesses  the 
large,  specially  built,  sea- 
going Albatross,  provided 
with  all  the  necessary  ap- 
paratus for  deep-sea  ex- 
ploration. By  means  of 
these  and  other  vessels  an 
enormous  amount  of  study 
— all  useful  in  ascertaining 
the  habits  and  methods 
of  reproduction  of  food- 
fishes — has  been  carried 
on  by  American  marine 
naturalists. 

It  appears  that  as  you 
go  further  and  further  from 
shore,  and  into  deeper  and 
deeper  water,  the  fewer 
animals  and  plants  are  ob- 
tained, and  that  very  few 
species  indeed  which  live 
along  shore  are  to  be  found 
also  at  a  depth  greater  than 
about  100  fathoms. 

Almost  all  animals, 
moreover,  have  a  limited 
distribution  in  the  sea,  as  is  the  case  among  those  on  land,  though  we  can- 
not always,  or  perhaps  often,  say  why  the  limits  we  find  should  exist ;  one 
sort  of  crab,  or  mollusk,  or  polyp,  appearing  here  and  another  different  one 
exclusively  there,  when  the  conditions  seem  to  us  very  similar,  and  no  bar- 
rier is  perceptible.  It  is  not  easy  to  explain  why  a  certain  sort  of  cowry, 
for  example,  should  be  found  only  along  a  particular  strip  of  coast,  when 
nothing  that  we  can  see  prevents  its  extending  its  range  much  further.     It 


LANDING  THE  BEAM-TRAWL  ON  DECK. 


262 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


is  believed  that  the  temperature  of  the  water  is  the  chief  fact  which  sets  these 
invisible  boundaries  to  the  wanderings  of  animals  living  near  the  surface, 
only  a  few  of  which  are  very  wide- spread  in  their  distribution.  The  direc- 
tion and  character  of  the  ocean  currents  have  much  to  do  with  the  geographic 
distribution  of  oceanic  life,  as  has  been  mentioned  in  Chapter  II  (page  25). 

Now  in  deep-sea  life  the  case  is 
different.  Here  temperature  cannot 
be  of  so  much  account,  since  only  a 
short  distance  down,  the  water  be- 
comes almost  as  cold  as  ice,  and  pre- 
serves this  uniform  chill  all  around 
the  globe.  The  life  found  at  a 
great  depth,  too,  is  very  wide- 
spread, instead  of  restricted  in  its 
range,  often  occurring  in  two  or  more 
ocean  basins ;  but  here  the  restric- 
tion is  an  up-and-down  one,  rather 
than  horizontal,  and  the  secret  is 
found  in  the  word  pressure.  Few 
animals  are  able  to  live  both  in  the 
shallows  and  under  the  enormous 
weight  of  sea  w^.ter  three  or  four 
miles  deep. 

This  has  recently  (1897)  been 
summed  up  very  clearly  by  Prof 
Arthur  P.  Crouch,  in  an  article  in 
"The  Nineteenth  Century,"  from 
which  it  will  be  worth  while  to  quote 
a  paragraph  or  two  : 


A   TYPICAL  JELLYFISH. 

This  species  (Pelagia  cyanella)  is  a  characteristic  oceanic  dis- 

cophorous  medusa,  common  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of 

the  United  States;  it  is  semi-transparent  and 

lustrous  pink. 


The  conditions  under  which  they  [that  is,  deep-sea  animals]  have  to  Hve  in  the  abysmal 
areas  seem  very  unfavorable  to  animal  existence.  The  temperature  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean 
is  nearly  down  to  freezing-point,  and  sometimes  actually  below  it.  There  is  a  total  absence  of 
liglit.  as  far  as  sunlight  is  concerned,  and  there  is  an  enormous  pressure,  reckoned  at  about  one 
ton  to  the  square  inch  in  every  1000  fathoms,  which  is  160  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
atmosphere  we  live  in.  At  2500  fathoms  the  pressure  is  thirty  times  more  powerful  than  the 
steam  pressure  of  a  locomotive  when  drawing  a  train.^     As  late  as  1880  a  leading  zoologist  ex- 

1  It  does  not  follow  that  these  creatures  are  conscious  ascend  in  a  balloon  or  climb  a  very  high  mountain,  and 

of  this  pressure,  any  more  than  we  are  of  the  pressure  after  a  time  we  find  that  we  cannot   go   any  farther. 

u])  n  us  of  the  fourteen  pounds  to  the  square  inch  of  our  Land  animals  therefore  have  a  vertical  limit  to  their  dis- 

atmi-phere.      I  he  point  is  that  they  (/i?  feel  it  when  they  tribution   as   well   as    sea   animals,   and   for   analogous 

rise  upward  to  a  point  where  the  pressure  is  distinctly  reasons. —  E.  I. 
le-s,  iu>t  as  we   are  conscious  of  a  difference  when  we 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA 


263 


plained  the  existence  of  deep-sea  animals  at  such  depths  by  assuming  that  their  bodies  were 
composed  of  solids  and  liquids  of  great  density,  and  contained  no  air.  This,  however,  is  not  the 
case  with  deep-sea  fish,  which  are  provided  with  air-inflated  swimming-bladders.  If  one  of 
these  fish,  in  full  chase  after  its  prey,  happens  to  ascend  beyond  a  certain  level,  its  bladder 
becomes  distended  with  the  decreased  pressure,  and  carries  it,  in  spite  of  all  its  efforts,  still 
higher  in  its  course.  In  fact,  members  of  this  unfortunate  class  are  liable  to  become  victims  to 
the  unusual  accident  of  falling  upwards,  and  no  doubt  meet  with  a  violent  death  soon  after 
leaving  their  accustomed  level,  and  long  before  their  bodies  reach  the  surface.  .  .  . 

The  fauna  of  the  deep  sea — with  a  few  exceptions  hitherto  only  known  as  fossils  —  are  new 
and  specially  modified  forms  of  families  and  genera  inhabiting  shallow  waters  in  modem  times, 
and  have  been  driven  down  to  the  depths  of  the  ocean  by  their  more  powerful  rivals  in  the 
battle  of  life,  much  as  the  ancient  Britons  were  compelled  to  withdraw  to  the  barren  and  inac- 
cessible fastnesses  of  Wales.  Some  of  their  organs  have  undergone  considerable  modification  in 
correspondence  to  the  changed  conditions  of  their  new  habitats.  Thus  down  to  900  fathoms 
their  eyes  have  generally  become  enlarged,  to  make  the  best  of  the  faint  light  which  may  pos- 
sibly penetrate  there.  After  1000  fathoms  these  organs  are  either  still  further  enlarged  or  so 
greatly  reduced  that  in  some  species  they  disappear  altogether  and  are  replaced  by  enormously 
long  feelers.  The  only  light  at  great  depths  which  would  enable  large  eyes  to  be  of  any  service 
is  the  phosphorescence  given  out  by  deep-sea  animals.  We  know  that  at  the  surface  this  light 
is  often  very  powerful,  and  Sir  Wyville  Thomson  has  recorded  one  occasion  on  which  the  sea  at 
night  was  "a  perfect  blaze  of  phosphorescence,  so  strong  that  lights  and  shadows  were  thrown 


THE   BOTTLE-FISH   AND   THE    PELICAN-FISH. 


on  the  sails  and  it  was  easy  to  read  the  smallest  print."  It  is  thought  possible  by  several  natural- 
ists that  certain  portions  of  the  sea  bottom  may  be  as  brilliantly  illumined  by  this  sort  of  light  as  the 
streets  of  a  European  city  after  sunset. 

One  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  this  vertical  distribution,  which 
forms  layers  of  animal  life,  as  it  were,  in  the  ocean  from  the  abysses  to  the 
shallows,  is  shown  by  the  coral-reefs.     The  foundations  of  these  polyp-built 


264 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


^^v,^- 


AT  THE   BOTTOM   OF  THE 
TROPICAL   SEA. 

The  large  floating  object  is  the  phosphorescent, 
compound,  oceanic  hydrozoan  Agalnta  eUgans,  a 
physophore  related  to  the  jellyfishes.  Its  tentacles 
trail  over  dead  corals, —  madrepore,  brain-corals,  etc.; 
while  the  living  reef  beyond  is  crowned  by  branching 
corals,  corallines  and  seaweeds. 

barriers  or  islands  are  laid  by 
the  millions  of  minute  individ- 
uals of  one  solid,  heavy  kind  of 
coral  which  can  flourish  only  in 
pretty  deep  water.  When  these 
have  reached  their  highest 
growth  they  cease  to  propagate 
there,  and  a  second  kind  comes 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA  265 

and  colonizes  upon  the  summit  of  this  massive  foundation  and  carries  the 
work  a  Httle  farther  up.  Then  these  die  off,  and  a  third  kind  plants  itself 
upon  their  remains  and  carries  the  structure  to  the  top,  near  the  surface  of 
the  sea,  where  many  surface-corals,  corallines,  and  various  other  limy  and 
flinty  plants  and  animals  help  to  erect  a  dry  reef,  upon  which  land  vege- 
tation can  find  a  root-hold,  and  where,  after  a  while,  men  may  dwell. 
When  these  coral-built  islands  are  ring-shaped  they  are  called  atolls,  and 
are  believed  to  be  living  crowns  about  the  summits  of  submerged  mountains. 

Men  make  use  of  something  in  nearly  every  branch  of  ocean  life,  from 
humblest  to  highest.  The  lowest  of  all,  as  I  have  already  said,  are  the  fora- 
minifers ;  it  is  their  skeletons  which  make  up  our  common  chalk.  A  close 
ally  of  theirs  is  the  sponge,  of  which  a  dozen  or  so  varieties  are  sold  in 
the  shops.  Sponges  come  chiefly  from  the  Mediterranean,  the  Persian 
and  Ceylonese  waters  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  from  the  Gulf  coast  of 
Florida.  In  the  Old  World  they  are  obtained  chiefly  by  diving.  Men  who 
are  trained  from  boyhood  to  this  work  go  out  to  the  sponge-ground  in 
boats  on  fine  days.  Fastening  a  netting-bag  about  their  waists,  and  taking 
a  heavy  stone  in  their  hands,  they  dive  head-foremost  to  the  bottom, — often 
twelve  or  fifteen  fathoms  below, —  tear  the  sponges  from  the  rocks,  and  rise 
with  a  bagful,  to  be  dragged  almost  utterly  exhausted  into  their  boat, 
often  fainting  immediately  after.  This  requires  them  to  hold  their  breath 
under  the  water  for  two  minutes  or  more ;  but  none  but  the  most  expert  can 
do  that,  and  a  diver  does  not  live  long.  In  Florida,  however,  the  sponge- 
gatherers  do  not  dive,  but  go  in  ships  to  where  the  sponges  grow,  and  then 
cruise  about  in  small  boats,  each  of  which  contains  two  men :  one  steers, 
while  the  other  leans  over  the  side  searching  the  bottom.  In  order  to  see 
it  plainly,  he  has  what  he  calls  a  "water-glass" — a  common  wooden  pail 
the  bottom  of  which  is  glass.  Pressing  this  down  into  the  water  a  few 
inches,  he  thrusts  in  his  face,  and  can  then  perceive  everything  on  the 
bottom  with  great  distinctness.  When  he  sees  a  sponge  he  thrusts  down 
a  long,  stout  pole,  on  the  end  of  which  is  a  double  hook,  like  a  small  pitch- 
fork, set  at  right  angles  to  the  handle,  and  drags  up  the  captive. 

The  sponges,  having  been  obtained,  must  be  put  through  long  operations 
of  rotting,  beating,  rinsing,  drying,  and  bleaching  before  their  skeletons  — 
the  serviceable  part  —  are  fit  for  use.  Only  a  few,  however,  out  of  the 
large  number  of  species  of  sponges  have  any  commercial  value. 

The  limy  skeletons  of  the  coral  polyps  form  what  we  term  "corals." 
The  round  white  ones  and  the  variously  branching  ones  may  come  from 
any  one  of  several  parts  of  the  equatorial  half  of  the  globe,  and  are  of  value 
chiefly  as  mantel  ornaments.     The  red  coral  of  which  necklaces  and  other 


266  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  OCEAN 

bits  of  jewelry  are  made,  especially  at  Naples,  is  procured  by  divers  about 
the  shores  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  its  gathering,  cutting  and  mounting 
into  ornaments,  form  a  flourishing  industry  in  southern  Italy. 

Rising  in  the  zoological  scale  to  starfishes  and  sea-urchins,  I  can  only 
say  that  the  starfishes  interest  oystermen  because  they  prey  upon  their 
oysters,  and  the  former  often  do  enormous  damage  to  planted  beds,  espe- 
cially in  Long  Island  Sound.  In  the  old  days  it  was  thought  that  medicines 
made  out  of  the  "stars"  and  the  "sea-eggs"  were  very  potent  in  certain 
diseases.  The  trepang  —  some  one  of  several  sorts  of  holothurian,  an  elon- 
gated creature  related  to  the  starfish,  and  covered  with  a  prickly,  leathery 
hide,  so  that  it  looks  like  a  sort  of  sea-cucumber  —  which  is  dried  and  eaten 
by  the  Chinese  and  Malayans,  belongs  here  too ;  considerable  quantities 
of  these  queer  food-creatures  are  gathered  by  the  Chinese  along  the  coasts 
of  Mexico,  Southern  California  and  the  outlying  islands,  and  are  sold  in 
San  Francisco  mainly  for  export  to  Asia.  The  sea-urchin  itself  is  eagerly 
sought  as  food  by  the  Indians  of  the  American  northwest  coast. 

Coming  to  crustaceans  —  do  we  not  eat  crabs  gladly,  from  the  "  shed- 
der "  to  the  huge  lobster  ?  On  the  coast  of  Maine  whole  villages  of  sea- 
side people  get  their  support  almost  wholly  by  catching  lobsters  and  canning 
them  to  send  abroad.  In  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  at  certain  seasons, 
hundreds  of  men  are  engaged  in  catching  and  shipping  crabs  for  market, 
and  in  Louisiana  large  factories  are  devoted  to  canning  shrimps,  which 
are  also  extensively  used  as  food  in  the  Old  World,  where  they  are  cooked 
by  parching  or  boiling,  and  sold  by  peddlers  in  the  streets. 

This  brings  us  to  the  mollusks,  in  our  glance  at  the  useful  animals  of  the 
ocean  ;  and  to  prove  their  importance,  it  is  enough  to  remind  the  reader 
that  these  include  the  "shell-fish"  of  our  coasts  —  the  oyster,  clam,  mussel, 
scallop,  cockle,  and  all  the  rest  —  not  a  few  ! 

I  found  by  my  long  study  of  the  subject,  when,  in  1879  and  1880,  I  was 
gathering  statistics  of  the  United  States  shell-fisheries  for  the  United  States 
Fish  Commission  and  the  Tenth  Census,  that  at  that  time  there  were  taken 
from  our  waters,  of  oysters  alone,  almost  23,000,000  bushels  each  year, 
worth  to  the  oystermen  about  $13,500,000.  During  the  twenty  years  that 
have  elapsed  since  that  investigation  —  the  figures  of  which  you  may 
obtain  in  full  in  my  Report  to  the  Tenth  Census  upon  the  Oyster  Indus- 
tries—  these  amounts  have  largely  increased. 

This  business  employs  over  100,000  persons  in  this  country  alone;  and 
oysters,  clams,  and  other  shell-fish  are  gathered  all  round  the  globe, 
forming  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  natural  supplies  of  food.  In 
the  most  thickly  populated  parts  of  the  world  the  natural  supply  of  oysters 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA  267 

long  ago  ceased  to  suffice  for  the  demand,  and  artificial  propagation  and 
cultivation  were  resorted  to  and  now  prevail  on  both  sides  of  the  North 
Atlantic,  and  to  a  less  degree  elsewhere. 

The  Romans,  away  back  in  the  days  of  Horace,  raised  oysters  in  ponds 
along  the  Italian  coast,  and  Eastern  nations  preserved  the  custom  during 
the  middle  ages,  when  Europe  was  doing  little  except  quarreling  and 
making  pretty  pictures  on  parchment.     More  recently  the  French  of  the 


STARFISHES   AT   HOME. 
This  is  the  common  eastern  American  form  (Asterias  vulgaris)  upper  and  under  views. 

Channel  coast  took  it  up,  and  the  English  followed,  finding  that  their  natural 
oyster  and  mussel  beds  were  becoming  exhausted.  The  same  fate  has  over- 
taken our  oyster-beds  everywhere  north  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  largely 
there ;  so  that  now  nearly  all  the  oysters  brought  to  market  are  those  which 
have  been  raised  upon  private  planted  beds,  which  men  own  or  lease  and 


268 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


SEA-SHELLS   IN   THE   SURF. 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA  269 

it  will  conveniently  hold.  These  young  oysters,  generally  hardly  bigger 
than  your  thumb-nail,  are  dredged  in  summer  from  certain  reefs  in  deep 
water,  where  the  oysters  are  never  allowed  to  grow  to  full  size ;  and  to  a 
large  extent  they  are  brought  northward  by  the  ship-load  from  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  which  have  more  "seed,"  as  it  is  called,  than  they  need  for 
their  own  planting.  These  young  oysters,  protected  from  harm,  and  having 
plenty  of  space  to  grow,  come  to  a  proper  size  for  market  in  about  three 
years,  and  are  then  gathered  by  their  owners  and  sold. 

Another  method  is  to  spread  old  shells,  pebbles,  etc.,  on  the  bottom,  to 
which  the  floating  eggs  emitted  by  adult  oysters  in  the  neighborhood  adhere. 
The  thick  "  catch  "  of  infant  mollusks  hatched  from  these  captive  eggs  is 
then  taken  up  and  respread  in  a  more  scattered  way  upon  new  ground,  and 
is  allowed  to  grow  to  maturity.  The  oysters  raised  by  either  of  these 
methods  are  of  better  appearance  and  taste,  as  a  rule,  than  those  that  grow 
naturally,  because  each  has  room  enough  to  perfect  its  proportions. 

Mussels,  clams  of  many  varieties,  and  even  sponges  and  peak-shells, 
are  also  cultivated  to  some  extent,  each  according  to  the  plan  its  natural 
habits  make  advisable.  In  this  way  certain  great  areas  of  favorable  ocean- 
bottom  have  become  as  valuable  as  the  neighboring  shore-land,  or  even 
far  more  so,  if  you  compare,  acre  for  acre,  the  yield  of  the  crops  below 
with  those  above  the  water-line. 

But  mollusks  are  useful  in  many  other  ways  than  as  human  food.  As 
they  are  known  to  be  the  principal  food  of  several  valuable  fishes,  enormous 
quantities  are  devoted  to  baiting  hooks  in  both  hand-lining  and  trawling 
for  cod  and  similar  commercial  species.  The  quaint  squids  are  mollusks, 
and  these  are  especially  useful  for  bait  in  certain  places  and  seasons,  and 
are  taken  in  the  North  Atlantic  in  vast  numbers  for  that  purpose. 

The  shells  of  mollusks  are  applied  to  a  surprising  variety  of  purposes, 
from  paving  roads  to  making  shirt-studs,  while  their  natural  beauty  has 
suggested  their  utilization  as  ornaments  in  a  hundred  ways.  We  cut  them 
up  by  the  million  into  buttons  and  various  small  objects,  such  as  parasol 
handles,  and  polish  and  fashion  them  into  all  sorts  of  knickknacks,  thus 
giving  employment  to  thousands  of  persons.  Many  ship-loads  of  shells  are 
brought  to  New  York  from  the  West  Indies  every  year  for  such  purposes. 
I  need  not  dwell  upon  this,  but  turn  to  the  interesting  subject  of  pearls. 

Mother-of-pearl  is  the  bright  inside  surface,  or  nacre,  of  the  large  oyster 
that  gives  us  pearls,  which  are  themselves  composed  of  the  same  sub- 
stance formed  in  a  nodule  around  some  intruding  substance,  like  a  grain  of 
sand,  which  irritates  the  mollusk's  skin  until  it  is  made  smooth  and  com- 
fortable by  this  iridescent  coating. 


270 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


MELEAGRINA. 

Meleagrina  (Avicula) 

ma  rga  r  Hi/era. 

b.  byssal  foramen  or 

notch  ;  g.  suspen- 

sors  of  the  gills. 


CASSIDID.E. 

Helmet-shell  (Cassis 
Jiammea). 


Bivalves  yielding  this  beautiful  sub- 
stance exist  in  various  parts  of  the 
world;  but  in  America  the  only  fishery 
for  the  pearl-oyster  is  in  the  Gulf  of 
California,  and  that  is  by  no  means 
as  productive  as  it  used  to  be.  The 
season  for  pearl-fishing  on  the  Pacific 
coast  of  Mexico  is  from  June  to  Decem- 
ber, but  the  diving  can  be  done  only  in 
good  weather,  and  for  .  about  three 
hours  at  the  time  of  low  water,  since  the  tide  there 
rises  twenty  feet,  which  would  make  a  large  dive  of  itself;  and,  besides, 
the    currents    are    troublesome    during    high    water. 

At  the  right  hour  the  Mexicans  go  out  in  their  canoes,  one  man  of  the 
four  or  five  in  each  canoe  paddling,  while  the  rest  scrutinize  the  bot- 
tom. It  may  be  rocky  and  weed-grown,  but  the  water  is  clear,  and 
their  practised  eyes  detect  a  single  round  oyster  where  you  or  I  cer- 
tainly would  overlook  a  dozen  of  them.  Then  down  a  man  goes  and 
brings  up  his  prize,  with  perhaps  some  additional  ones.  Sixty  or  eighty 
feet  is  not  too  deep  for  these  adventurous  divers,  who  will  stay  a  whole 
minute  upon  the  bottom.  No  food  is  eaten  by  these  men  on  the  day 
they  dive   until  their  labor  has  been  done. 

Western  Australia  is  another  fruitful  field  for  pearl- 
oysters,  and  until  a  few  years  ago  they  were  taken 
there  by  native  blackfellows,  diving  without  weights 
or  any  other  assistance  in  any  water  not 
more  than  ten  fathoms  deep.  The  inshore 
shallows  have  now  been  so  cleared  of 
shells  that  the  only  profitable  in- 
dustry is  to  go  down  in  deep 
water  in  diving-dress  and  make 
a  thorough  clean-up  of  each 
"patch"  where  the  shells  seem 
numerous. 

The  divers  find  it  an  inter- 
esting and  curious  world  where 
they  work,  but  one  full  of  fright 
and  peril.  Some  men  who  at- 
tempt it  are  so  unnerved  that 
they  will  never  make  a  second 


MITER-SHELLS. 


SCORPION-SHELL. 

(Pteroceras  lambis.) 


a.  Mitra  vulpecula.     b.  Mitra 
episcopalis. 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA 


2/1 


descent.  None  can  endure  the  practice  long  without  ill  health  resulting; 
and  the  native  Australians  will  never  enter  a  diver's  dress,  declining  to  go 
down  where  it  is  too  deep  to  dive  naked. 

As  for  the  dangers,  drowning  by  some  accident  to  the  apparatus, 
or  through  the  stupidity  of  the  boatmen  above,  is  only  one  of  them. 
The    warm    waters    in    which    these    men    work    are    the    home    of    the 


VENUS'   COMB,   ONE   OF   THE   MURICES   OF   CHINA. 

largest  and  most  deadly  sharks,  and  of  various  other  submarine  crea- 
tures one  would  rather  not  meet  in  their  own  element.  Of  them  all 
the  sharks  are  most  to  be  dreaded,  especially  by  the  naked  men.  As 
a  rule,  however,  they  are  easily  frightened  away,  or  can  be  avoided  by  the 
clever  swimmer,  who  quickly  stirs  up  the  mud  of  the  bottom,  and  rises  in 
the  fog  before  the  dull  shark  discovers  that  he  has  gone.  East  Indians  are 
said  to  fight  sharks  quite  fearlessly,  stabbing  them  with  a  knife  as  they  roll 
over  preparatory  to  a  close  attack.  I  have  read  a  story  to  the  effect  that 
formerly  the  Mexican  Indian  divers  on  our  western  coast  used  to  take  down 
with  them  a  stick  of  hard  wood  about  two  feet  long  and  sharpened  at  both 


272 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


A   MUREX   ("MUREX   PALMA-ROS^E "  )   OF  CEYLON. 

ends.  When  a  shark  was  encountered  from  which  they  could  not  readily 
escape,  they  would  snatch  this  weapon  from  their  belts,  grasp  it  in  the 
middle,  and  thrust  it  dexterously  crosswise  into  the  widely  distended  mouth 
of  the  monster,  opened  to  seize  them.  To  shut  down  his  jaws  upon  such  a 
skewer  would  undoubtedly  discomfit  a  shark  or  anything  else ;  but  when 
one  thinks  of  the  time,  nerve,  and  sure  aim  it  would  require  to  accomplish 
this  feat,  he  begins  to  doubt  whether  it  really  ever  was  tried.  I  advise 
you,  therefore,  to  prove  the  story  better  than  I  have  been  able  to  do,  be- 
fore you  pin  all  your  faith  to  it. 

An  Australian  pearl-diver,  writing  about  this  matter  in  "The  Century" 
magazine  a  few  years  ago,  assures  us  that  a  fifteen-foot  shark,  magnified 
by  the  water,  and  making  a  bee-line  for  one,  is  sufificient  to  make  the  stoutest 
heart  quake,  in  spite  of  the  assertion  that  sharks  have  never  been  known  to 
attack  a  man  in  a  rubber  diving-dress.     He  adds: 

Neither  is  the  sight  of  a  large  turtle  comforting  when  one  does  not  know  exactly  what  it  is, 
and  the  coiling  of  a  sea-snake  around  one's  legs,  although  it  has  only  one's  hands  to  bite  at,  is,  to 
say  the  least,  unpleasant.  A  little  fish  called  the  stone-fish  is  one  of  the  enemies  of  the  diver. 
It  seems  to  make  its  habitation  under  the  pearl-shell,  as  it  is  only  when  picking  up  a  shell  th^t 
any  one  has  been  known  to  be  bitten.  I  remember  well  the  first  time  I  was  bitten  by  this  spite- 
ful member  of  the  finny  tribe.  I  dropped  my  bag  of  shells,  and  hastened  to  the  surface ;  but  in 
this  short  space  of  time  my  hand  and  arm  had  so  swollen  that  it  was  with  diflficulty  I  could  get 
the  dress  off,  and  then  was  unable  to  work  for  three  days,  suffering  intense  pain  the  while.  After- 
ward 1  learned  that  staying  down  a  couple  of  hours  after  a  bite  will  stop  any  further  discomfort, 
the  pressure  of  water  causing  much  bleeding  at  the  bitten  part,  and  thus  expelling  the  poison. 

All  the  oysters  when  brought  ashore  are  opened  in  vats  of  water,  and 
carefully  examined  for  the  pearls  they  may  contain  half  embedded  in  their 


ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    THE    SEA 


273 


mantles ;  but  very  few  reward  the  diver  with  gems  worth  selling  separately 
or  otherwise  than  by  weight  as  **seed"  pearls.  Many  divers,  therefore,  do 
not  themselves  take  the  trouble  of  opening  what  they  catch,  but  sell  them 
unopened  at  a  few  cents  a  dozen,  preferring  the  small  and  steady  assured 
income  to  the  chances  of  failure  or  a  fortune. 

The  round,  flat,  beautiful  shells  are  saved,  and  their  sale  (for  mother-of- 
pearl  work)  brings  nearly  as  much  money  into  the  pearl-fishing  communities 
in  the  course  of  a  season  as  is  derived  from  the  pearls  themselves. 

What  beauty,  as  well  as  usefulness,  have  shells !  And  how  wide  is  the 
science  (conchology)  that  deals  with  them,  and  tells  us  not  only  their  struc- 
ture and  manner  of  life,  but  interprets  the  part  which  their  extraordi- 
nary forms,  ornaments,  colors,  and  appendages  play  in  their  "  struggle  for 
existence  "  down  in  that  populous  green  under-world  of  the  waters ! 

I  know  a  picturesque  old  house  [writes  a  charming  pen  in  one  of  the  early  volumes  of 
"  Scribner's  Monthly  "]  that  has  a  many-shelved  pantry  devoted  to  the  exhibition  and  sale  of 


ON   THE   GULF   STREAM   SLOPE,  FROM   ONE   TO   TWO   MILES   BELOW 

THE   SURFACE. 


shells,  collected  in  many  a  long  voyage  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  five  oceans.  Apart  from 
their  scientific  interest,  their  associations  with  aUen  races  and  far-off  countries,  how  beautiful  these 
shells  are  in  themselves  !  and  how  readily  might  the  prevailing  vulgarities  and  absurdities  in  the 
decoration  of  glass  and  porcelain  be  corrected  by  studying  the  ceramics  of  nature !  How,  for 
instance,  is  our  sense  of  cleanliness  served  and  our  appetite  wooed  by  the  extreme  smoothness, 

i8 


274 


THE    BOOK    OF    THE    OCEAN 


hardness  of  surface,  and  pearly  white  of  the  oyster-shell !  What  decoration  in  the  part  that  re- 
ceives the  viand,  what  metallizing  the  surface  or  changing  it  into  artificial  marble,  or  covering 
it  up  with  pictures,  would  take  the  place  of  the  pure,  colorless  shell  ? 

Every  species  of  these  shells  has  a  principle  of  growth,  or  law  of  form,  peculiar  to  itself  and 
yet  based  upon  some  more  general  law  of  form  common  to  other  species.  ...  In  the  comb  of 
Venus,  for  instance,  the  initial  impulse  of  structure  tends  to  produce  a  series  of  spines  of  a  pe- 
culiar curvature,  and  arranged  after  a  certain  order  that  involves  the  use  of  similar  curves.  It 
is  interesting  to  study  the  development  of  this  simple  principle  into  the  complex  and  singular 
form  of  beauty  comprised  in  the  shell  itself,  the  idea  being  carried  into  the  most  minute  particu- 
lars —  even  the  dark  markings  at  the  mouth  being  shaped  like  spines,  and  every  small  projection 
on  the  surface  evidently  being  an  arrested  development  of  spines.  In  the  Murex  haustellum,  on 
the  contrary,  nodules  take  the  place  of  spines.  In  the  M.  endivia  an  entirely  different  idea  is 
developed.  Notice  the  cross-striations.  Instead  of  prolonging  themselves  into  cylindrically 
pointed  spines,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Venus'  comb,  or  bunching  themselves  into  knobs,  as  in  the 
M.  haustellum^  they  expand  into  wonderful  foliated  projections,  the  edges  of  which  are  beautifully 
fluted,  like  the  leaves  of  the  lettuce.  Another  fine  effect  is  afforded  by  the  different  texture  of 
the  inside  and  outside  surfaces,  down  to  the  smallest  foliation,  the  inner  parts  exhibiting  a 
polished  pearly  white,  and  the  outside  a  gray  and  wrinkled  skin.  Observe  that,  however  rough 
or  dull  of  hue  the  outside  of  a  shell,  its  lips  are  always  pure  and  often  flushed  with  lovely  color; 
for,  as  a  rule  (and  here  is  another  hint  to  decorators),  Nature  distinguishes  by  some  adornment  the 
most  significant  parts  of  her  creatures,  where  life  and  use  are  centered.  .  .  .  The  ocean,  indeed, 
beautifies  all  it  touches.  Give  it  any  rough  shard,  and  it  will  so  roll  it  about,  and  lick  it  with 
its  waves,  and  smooth  it  with  their  soft  attrition,  that  it  will  return  you  a  polished  and  shapely 
nodule,  exhibiting  all  the  beauty  of  color  and  surface  of  which  the  material  is  capable. 


INDEX   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Adler  at  Samoa,  200. 

Agalma  elegans,  264. 

Alabama,  the,  in  action,  136,  158. 

Algae,  typical,  252,  254. 

Almirante  Cochrane,   in  action  with 

Hiiascar,  141. 
America,   the  yacht,  188,  195. 
Antarctic  scenery,  loi. 
Ardois  night-signals  at  sea,  205. 
Argonaut  shell,  274. 
Armada,  style  of  ships  of  the,  115. 

Balloon-sail,  158,  186. 

Battle-ships,  modern  steel,  134,  142, 

144,  147,  150, 153.     See  also  Line- 

of-Battle  Ships. 
Beam-trawl   for   deep-sea   dredging, 

261. 
Biremes,  Roman,  42.     See  Galleys. 
Boat-davits,  223,  232. 
Bon  Homme  Richard,  the,  182. 
Bottle-fish,  the,  263. 
Bowsprit,  the,  and  its  rigs,  38,   63, 

113,  120,  158,  175.      See  Cutters 

and  Sloops. 
Breeches-buoy,  method  of  using,  229. 
Buckeye,  or  "  bugeye,"  a,  198. 
Buoys,  225,  226,  227. 

Cambria,  model  of,  195. 

Cameos,  shell  used  for,  270. 

Can-buoys,  225. 

Canoes,  28,  37,  45,  198. 

Caravels,  35,  61,  63,  65,  76. 

Carronade,  an  old,  185. 

Cassis,  a  typical,  270. 

"  Castles,"  fore   and  aft,  on  ancient 

ships,  35,  57,  63,  65,  112,  114,  115, 

119. 
Catboat,  a  Newport,  155. 
Center-board  boats,  models  of,  195. 
Chain-plates,  172. 
Channels,  172. 
Chart,  an  early,  54. 
Chinese  boats,  32.     Compare  Malay 

Boats. 
Clewed-up,  mainsails,  120,  184. 
Clipper-ship,  a,  158,  164. 
Coast,  destruction  of,  by  the  sea,  3,  5, 

7,  10,  15,  58. 
Collision,  scene  in  a,  202. 
Columbia,  the,  146. 
Columbus,Christopher,flag-shipof,63. 
Columlms,  Christopher,  statue  of,  60. 
Constellation,  184. 
Constitution,  frigate,  106,  132. 
Costumes  of  mariners,  117,  123,  142, 

147,  157,  172,  179. 
Cruisers,  modern  steel,  I46,  150,  154, 

205. 


Crustaceans  of  the  deep  sea,  273. 
Cutters,  188,  191,  193. 

Day-marks  (for  pilots),  225. 

Deck  scenes,  modern,  142,  147,  154, 

164,261. 
Deck  scenes  on  old-time  vessels,  117, 

ISO- 
Deep-sea  dredging  apparatus,  261. 
Diatoms,  257. 
Diving-dress,  258. 
Driver  (sail).     See  Spanker. 
Dynamite-cruiser,  in  action,  154. 

Earthquake  waves,  18,  21. 
El  Chico,  model  of,  195. 
Eskimos  in  summer,  83. 

Felucca,  a,  175. 

Fin-keel  yachts,  models  of,  195. 
Fiord,  a,  in  New  Zealand,  15. 
Fish-curing  at  St.  Pierre,  243. 
Fishes,  deep-sea,  263. 
Fishing-boats,  American,  245,  247. 
Fishing-boats,  Canadian,  5,  17,  243. 
Fishing-boats,  French,  7. 
Fishing-boatsoftheMediterranean,3S. 
Fishing-pound,  at  low  tide,  17. 
Flare,  burning  a,  at  sea,  221. 
Flying  Dutchman,  the,  57. 
Fog-bell,  a,  219. 
Fore-and-aft  rig,  221. 
Frigates,  125,  132,  136,  182,  184. 
Full-rigged  ship.     See  Ship. 
Gaff-topsail,     186,     193,    221.       See 

Cutters  and  Sloops. 
Galleons,  Spanish,  119. 
Galleys,  ancient,  42, 43,  109,  iii,  112. 
Genesta,  the  yacht,  191,  195. 
Gloriana,  model  of,  195. 
Great  Harry,  bow  of,  113. 
Guerriere,  frigate,  in  action,  125. 
Gulfweed  and  its  inhabitants,  252. 

Halcyon,  the,  yacht,  186. 
Hamilcar's  stairway  of  the  galleys, 

109. 
Hand-line  fishing,  245. 
Helmet-shell,  a,  270. 
Homeward-bound  pennant,  133. 
"  Hove  to,"  attitude  of  sails,  37,  247. 
Huascar,  in  action,  141. 
Hydroid,  a  compound,  264. 

Icebergs  and  ice-floes,  79,  80,  85,  89, 

92,  97,  103,  105. 
Indiana,  the,  144. 
I  rex,  the  yacht,  191. 
Ironclads,  early,  134,  138,  139,  141. 


Jellyfish,  a  typical,  262. 
Jib-sails,  120,  158,  175,  186. 
Jib-staysails,  89,  158,  175,  221. 

Ii'earsarge,t)\e,  in  action  w^ith  \he  Ala- 
bama, 136. 
Krakatoa,  in  eruption,  12. 

Lanterns,  stern,  of  old  ships,  57,  115. 
Lateen  rigs,  28,  35,  37,  38,  61,  181. 
Launch,  a  steam,  153. 
Leeboard,  a,  198. 
Leg-of-mutton  sails,  198. 
Life-boat,  a  self-righting,  230. 
Life-saving  service,  the,  228, 229, 230. 
Light-houses,  18,  213,  214,  215. 
Light-ship,  Nantucket,  217,  218. 
Light-ship,  Sandy  Hook,  186. 
Line-of-battle  ships,  wooden,  120, 134. 
Lugsail  rigs,  42,  43,  45,  48. 

Magic,  model  of,  195. 

Main  chains,  172. 

Maine,  the,  153. 

Mainsail  or  main  course,  120,  158, 
164,  175,  184,  221. 

Malay  boats,  28,  181. 

Maria,  the  yacht,  188. 

Massachusetts,  the,  142. 

Matting  sails,  32,  181. 

Mayflower,  the  yacht,  186,  194. 

Medieval  vessels,  various  forms  of, 
35,63,  65,  112,  lis,  119- 

Meleagrina,  270. 

Merrimac,  the,  138. 

Midnight  sun  at  sea,  2. 

Midshipmen  of  1812,  123. 

Military  masts,  ancient.  III. 

Military  masts,  modern,  134, 141, 144, 
146,  150,  153,  205. 

Minot's  Ledge  lighthouse,  213. 

Mischief,  model  of,  195. 

Miter-shells  (Mitra),  270. 

Mizzen,  the  ancient  (compare  Span- 
ker), 63. 

Models  of  hulls  of  yachts,  195. 

Mollusks,  shells  of.   See  Sea-shells. 

Monitor,  the,  139. 

Monitors,  139,  149,  150. 

Muleta,  a,  38.     Compare  Felucca. 

Murex-shells,  263,  272. 

Muriel,  the  yacht,  193. 

Nelson,  portrait  of,  129. 

Nelson,  signal  of,  at  Trafalgar,  127. 

Nun  buoys,  225. 

Obstruction  buoy,  226. 
Olive-shell  (Oliva),  268. 
Outriggers,  forms  of,  28,  37. 


2  76 


INDEX    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Packet,  a  Liverpool,  i6o. 
Paper-nautilus,  the,  274. 
Pearl-oyster,  the,  270. 
Pelagia  cyanella,  262. 
Pelican-fish,  the,  263. 
Penguins,  Antarctic,  loi,  103. 
Physophore,  a,  264. 
Pilot-boat,  221,  223. 
Pirates,  at  home,  179. 
Pirates,  Malay,  181. 
Proas,  Malay,  28,  37. 
Pteroceras  lambis,  270. 
Puritan,  the  yacht,  194,  195. 

Raking  masts,  188,  198. 
Rapid-fire  guns,  147. 
Reefing  a  topsail,  31. 
Reef-points,  43,  120,  132,  158,  188. 
Rowboats,   45,   236,  239,  248.     See 

also  Galleys  and  Yawl. 
Royal  sails,  132,  158,  184. 

Snils,  decorated,  45,  48,  63. 

Sails,  various  forms  of,  31,  32,  113, 

115,  119,  181.     See  also  names  of 

sails  and  rigs. 
Saloon  of  a  modern  steamship,  161. 
Saloon  of  a  packet-ship,  160. 
Samoans  battling  with  surf,  208. 
Sandbagger-sloop,  a,  197. 
Sapplio,  model  of,  195. 
Sargassum,  a  piece  of,  252. 
Schooners,  26, 186,  188,  221,  223, 247. 
Scorpion-shell,  the,  270. 
Sea-anemones,  273. 
Sea-caves,  10. 
Sea-fights,  74,  106,  III,  115,  117,  119, 

125,  130,  136,  141,  147,  175,  182. 
Search-lights,  150,  153. 


Sea-shells,  268,  270,  271,  272,  274. 

Sea-slugs  (Doris),  252. 

Seaweeds,  252,  254. 

Serapis,  the,  182. 

Ship,  a  full-rigged,  37,  89,  92,  120, 

132,  133,  158,  184, 232,  234. 
Ship  of  the  line.     See  Line-of-Bat- 

TLE  Ships. 
Ship   weathering   a   gale   with   sails 

furled,  8,  56,  89,  207. 
Ships'  boats,  232,  236,  239. 
Sharpie,  a,  198. 
Shrouds,  164,  172. 
Sidewheel  steamer,  a,  21. 
Signal  flags,  127. 
Signaling  at  sea,  205,  206,  221. 
Signal-mast,  a,  142. 
Siren,  on  a  steamship.  220. 
Sky-scraper  sails,  132,  184. 
Sloops,  24,  186,  194,  197,  199. 
Sloops-of-war,  130,  207. 
Spanker-,  driver-,  or  mizzen-sail,  89, 

196. 
Spar  buoys,  225. 
Sponsons,  144,  153. 
Starfish,  the  common,  267. 
Staysails,  221. 
Steam  frigates,  136,  138. 
Steamships,  modern  mercantile,  161, 

167,  181,  223. 
Steam-yacht,  a,  186. 
Steering  oar,  a  modern,  239. 
Storm  scenes,  18,  21,  24,  31,  56,  200, 

207,  208,  213,  217,  247. 
Studding-sails,  132,  133,  158,  184. 
Surf,  and  its  effect,  3,  21,  71,  208. 

Tara,  the  yacht,  191. 
Teatmsek,  the  monitor,  149. 


Thesetis  and  Gtierriere,  125. 
Thistle,  model  of,  195. 
Tides  —  scene  at  low  tide,  17. 
Topcastles, 63,  iii. 
Topgallantsails,   120,  132,  158,  184. 
Topsails,  120,  125,  158,  175. 
Topsails,  square,  120, 132,  184.     (See 

dso  Ships,  Full-Rigged.) 
Torpedo-boats,  150,  151. 
Torpedo-boats,  submarine,  152. 
Torpedoes  and  their  effect,  149,  150. 
Towing  a  barge,  1 70. 
Trying  out  whale-blubber,  234 
Turrets,  142,  144,  150,  153. 

Venus'  Comb,  271. 
Very  night-signals,  206. 
Vesuvius,  the,  154. 
Viking  ships,  45,  48,  51. 
Volcanoes  on  the  sea-shore,  12. 
Volunteer,  model  of,  186,  195. 

Walking  the  plank,  1 72. 
Walruses  on  the  ice,  80. 
Ward-room  of  a  war-ship,  123. 
Wasp,  in  action  with  Frolic,  130. 
Wasp,  model  of  the  yacht,  195. 
Waves,  oceanic,  8,  18,  24,  56,  57. 
Whale,  sperm,  head  of,  240. 
Whaleback,  a,  169. 
Whaleboats,  232,  236,  239,  240. 
Whalers,  232-240. 
Whistling  buoy,  227. 
Wreck,  130,  149,  202,  229,  230. 

Yachts,  models  of,  195. 
Yachts,  racing,  186, 188, 191, 193, 195. 
Yawl,  a  ship's,  105,  223. 
Yawl-rig,  the,  197. 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Africa,  first  circumnavigated,  41. 
"  America,"  origin  of  the  name,  63. 
America,  visited  by  Norsemen,  45, 48. 
America  Cup,  races  for,  190-195. 
American    Arctic    exploration,     86, 

89,  90. 
Atlantic,  North,  early  voyages  in,  44. 
Atlantic  Ocean,  defined,  5. 
Atlantis,  the  fabled  land  of,  6. 
Alert,  Arctic  expedition  of,  96. 
Algse.     See  Seaweeds. 
Algerian  pirates,  173. 
Ancient  sea-animals,  259. 
Andree's  Arctic  balloon,  lOO. 
Animal  life  in  the  sea,  259-274. 
Animals    inhabiting    seaweeds,   251, 

252,  257. 
Antarctic  Ocean,  defined,  7. 
Arabic  commerce,  43. 
Arabs,  as  navigators,  52,  57. 
Arctic  American  coast  traced,  81,  82, 

83,  88. 
Arctic  exploration,  77-100. 
Arctic  Ocean,  defined,  7. 
Armada,  the  Spanish,  114-117. 
Armor  for  ships,  136,  138,  145. 
Astrolabe,  the,  53,  73. 
Australia,  discovery  of,  72,  76. 

Baffin,  voyage  to  Baffin's  Bay,  79,  81. 
Balboa,  discovers  the  Pacific,  64. 
Banks  of  Newfoundland,  fishing  on, 

245-  .      . 
Barataria  pirates  of  Louisiana,  1 79. 
Barbai-ossa,  the  brothers,  171. 
Barbary  States,  the,  174. 
Barentz  and  Barentz's  Sea,  78,  91. 
Barks  described,  36,  38. 
Battle-ships,  modern  steel,  140-148. 
Bering,  expeditions  of,  80. 
Biremes,  Greek  and  Roman,  108. 
Bjarne's  discoveries,  46. 
Boats  of  the  Egyptians,  28,  30,  32. 
Boats  of  the  Phoenicians,  28,  30,  33. 
Boats  of  early  Scandinavians,  29,  30. 
Boats,  primitive,  27. 
Bon  Homme  Richard  sxiA.  Serapis,  128. 
Bowsprit  sails,  34,  37. 
Brazil,  discovery  of,  62,  64. 
Brazil,  the  name,  66. 
Brigs  described,  36. 
Buccaneers,  career  of  the,  1 77. 
Buckeye,  or  "bugeye,"  198. 
Buoys  and  channel  marks,  225. 

Cabot's  voyage  to  America,  65,  67. 

Canada  discovered,  68. 

Cape  Horn,  first  rounded,  72. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  discovered,  54. 

Captain  capsized,  201. 

Caravels  of  Columbus,  34, 35,  61,  63. 


Carrageen  or  Irish  moss,  255. 
Carthaginians  as  navigators,  42. 
Cartier  discovers  Canada,  68. 
Catboat  described,  35. 
Center-board,  explained,  189. 
C^a//(?«^^r  expedition,  10,  272. 
Chancellor,  voyage  of,  to  the  White 

Sea,  77. 
Charybdis,  whirlpool  of,  19. 
Chesapeake  and  Shannon,  129. 
Chinese  as  navigators,  52. 
Clippers,  Baltimore,  183. 
Colossus  of  Rhodes,  21 1. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  59. 
Commerce  at  sea,  history  of,  155-170. 
Commerce,  early  European,  52,  155. 
Commerce,  medieval,  156. 
Commerce,  modern,  159. 
Compass,  the  mariner's,  51. 
Constitution,  U.  S.  frigate,  130-133. 
Constitution,  in  the  war  with  Tripoli, 

174. 
Cook,  Captain  James,  voyage  of,  75. 
Copenhagen,  battle  of,  126. 
Corals  and  coral  polyps,  265. 
Corsairs,  the,  172. 
Corte-Real,  voyage  of,  68. 
Crabs,  caught  for  market,  266. 
Cruisers,  service  of,  121,  140. 
Currents  in  the  ocean.     See  Ocean 

Currents. 
Cutter,  rig  of  a,  35. 

Dampier,  voyages  of,  73. 
Dangers  of  the  Deep,  200-230. 
Davis,  exploration  of  Davis's  Strait, 

78. 
Decatur's  exploit  at  Tripoli,  1 75. 
Deep-sea  conditions  of  life,  263. 
De  Long,  death  of  Lieutenant,  95. 
Dias,  Bartholomew,  voyage  of,  53. 
Diatoms  described,  249,  257. 
Distribution  of  animals  in  the  sea, 

261. 
"  Don't  give  up  the  ship,"  129. 
Drake,  Francis,  114,  181. 
Dredging,  deep-sea,  260. 
Dynamite-throwing,  154. 

Earthquake-waves,  203. 

East  India  Companies,  157,  159. 

"East  Indiaman,"  an,  162. 

East  Indian  pirates,  180. 

East  Indies,  the,  69,  71,  74. 

Eddystone  lighthouse,  212. 

Egypt's  grain-trade,  156. 

"  England  expects  every  man  will  do 

his  duty,"  126,  127. 
England's  sea-wars,  114,  129,  157. 
Erik  the  Red,  45. 


Faroes  discovered,  44. 
Fishing  and  other  Marine  In- 
dustries, 231-248. 
Fishing  in  the  North  Atlantic,  244. 
Fin  keels,  194,  195. 
Fire-ships,  116. 
Fog-horns  and  sirens,  219. 
Fram,  voyage  of  the,  99. 
Francis  Joseph  Land,  93,  100. 
Franklin,  Sir  John,  82,  83,  88. 
French-American  naval  war,  126. 
Frigates,  service  of,  121,  122,  130. 
Frobisher,  Martin,  77,  114. 
Fundy,  tides  in  the  Bay  of,  19, 

Galiot,  the,  112. 

Galleass,  the,  112. 

Galleon,  the,  1 12,  1x6,  173,  182. 

Galleys,  early  types  of,  107,  11 1,  112. 

Gallivat,  the,  112. 

Geography,  early  knowledge  of,  50. 

Great  Harry,  the,  II 4. 

Greely,  Gen.  A.  W.,  Arctic  work  by, 

96. 
Greenland  discovered,  45. 
Greenland,  coasts   explored,  91,  96, 

99. 
Guerriere,  story  of  the,  131. 
Gulf  Stream,  the,  22,  23. 
Gulfweed  (Sargassum),  251,  252. 
Gunnbjorn,  45. 
Guns  of  war-ships,  145-148. 

Hall,  Charles,  Arctic  exploration  by, 

90. 
Hand-line  fishing,  245,  246. 
Hanno,  expedition  of,  42. 
Harbor-beacons,  225. 
Harbor-defense  vessels,  140. 
Hawkins,  John;  114,  181. 
Henry,  the  navigator,  52,  53. 
Hittites,  the,  as  navigators,  40. 
Holland,  as  a  sea-power,  118,  122. 
Howard,  Admiral,  II4,  115. 
Hudson,  discoveries  by,  78. 

Iceland  discovered,  44. 

Indian  Ocean  defined,  6. 

Instruments  for  navigation,  52,  57,73« 

Irish  moss,  255. 

Irish  sea-wanderers,  44. 

Ironclads,  early,  136. 

Jean  Bart,  the  privateer,  182. 
Jeannette,  voyage  of  the,  94. 

Kane,  Dr.  E.  K.,  Arctic  exploration 

by,  86. 
Kearsarge  and  Alabama,  136. 
Kearsarge  wrecked,  201. 
Kelp  and  kelp-ash,  253,  256. 


278 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Kidd,  Captain,  the  pirate,  178. 
Krakatoa,  explosion  of,  203. 
Kuroshiwo  (Japan  current),  22,  24. 

Lafilte,  the  pirate,  189. 

La  Plata,  Rio,  first  entered,  69. 

Lateen  rigs,  32,  34. 

Lead  keels,  194. 

Lee-board,  explained,  179. 

Leif  Eiikson's  voyage,  47. 

Lepanto,  victory  of,  ill. 

Letters  of  marque,  180. 

Life-saving  service,  the  United  States, 
227. 

Lighthouses,  arrangements  for  light- 
ing, 216. 

Lighthouses,    history   of,    211,   212, 

213,  254. 
Light-ships,  American,  216. 
Line-of-battle  ships,  121,  134. 
Live  stock  carried  on  long  voyages, 

163. 
Lockwood  reaches  "  highest  north," 

98. 
Lug-sails  explained,  133. 

jNIcClure,  Arctic  exploration  by,  84, 
87. 

Maelstrom,  the,  19. 

Magellan  circumnavigates  the  world, 
69. 

Magnetic  pole  determined,  82. 

IVLips,  early,  50,  53,  54,  62. 

Masts,  names  of,  36. 

Medieval  ships,  33. 

Meiliterranean  Sea,  defined,  9. 

Melville's  search  for  Jeannette  sur- 
vivors, 95. 

Mercator,  the  map-maker,  72. 

Merchants  of  the  Sea,  the, 
155-170- 

Mines,  submarine,  148. 

iMinot's  Ledge  lighthouse,  214. 

Mollusks,  utility  of,  269. 

Monitor,  the,  139,  141. 

Morgan,  the  pirate,  178. 

Mollier-of-pearl,  269. 

Murex-shells,  274. 

Myths  as  to  Atlantic  islands,  65. 

Nansen,  Arctic  work  of,  99. 
Napoleon's  sea-campaigns,  122. 
Naval  warfare,  beginning  of,  107. 
Naval  warfare,  medieval,  I  ID. 
Naval  warfare,  theory  of,  I18. 
Navigation,  prehistoric,  39. 
Navigation,  instruments  for,  52,  57, 

73- 
Navy,  Byzantine,  no. 
Navy,  French,  122. 
Navy,  Greek,  107. 
Navy,  English,  1 13,  119,  129,  183. 
Navy,  Roman,  148,  156. 
Nearchus,  voyage  of,  43. 
Nelson,  Admiral  Horatio,  122-128. 
Ne]>on's  famous  signal,  126,  127. 
Newfoundland,  discovery  of,  44,  65, 

68. 
Night-signals  at  sea,  205,  206. 
Nik',  battle  of  the,  124. 
Nordenskjold's  vovage  in  the  Vega, 

93- 


Norsemen.       See     SCANDINAVIANS 

and  Vikings. 
North  America  discovered,  46, 62, 65. 
North   Atlantic,  exploration   of,  78, 

80,  91,  99. 

Northeast  Passage,  search  for,  77,91, 

93- 
Northwest  Passage,  search  for,  77, 

81,  84,  87. 

North  Pacific  explored,  75,  80,  84. 
Nova  Zembla,  78,  91. 

Ocean,  the,  and  its  Origin,  1-8. 

Ocean,  bed  of  the,  11. 

Ocean,  characteristics  of,  9. 

Ocean,  chemistry  of,  14. 

Ocean  currents,  20,  23. 

Ocean,  depth  of,  9. 

Ocean,  effects  of  upon  the  land,  4. 

Ocean,  life  in,  259-274. 

Ocean,  saltness  of,  13. 

Old  Ironsides.     See  CONSTITUTION. 

Ooze,  oceanic,  13,  274. 

Outriggers,  28. 

Oysters  and  oyster  culture,  266. 

Pacific  Ocean,  defined,  4. 

Pacific  Ocean,  discovery  of,  64. 

Packet-ships,  transatlantic,  160,  165. 

Paddles  and  oars,  29. 

Paleocrystic  Sea,  the,  88. 

Parry,  Arctic  explorations  by,  81. 

Payer  and  Weyprecht,  91. 

Paul  Jones,  128. 

Pearl-oyster  and  pearls,  269. 

Peary,  Arctic  work  of,  99. 

Persians  as  navigators,  43. 

Philadelphia,  U.  S.  frigate  at  Tri- 
poli, 174. 

Phcenicians  as  navigators,  41. 

Pilots  and  their  duties,  220-226. 

Piracy,  history  of,  171-185. 

Piracy  in  the  East  Indies,  180. 

Plants  of  the  Sea  and  their 
Uses,  249-257. 

Polaris,  misadventure  of,  90. 

Pope,  the,  divides  the  earth,  55. 

Portugal  as  a  sea-power,  52,  55. 

Pressure,  effects  of,  in  the  sea,  262. 

Prester  John,  54. 

Privateering,  180,  183,  185. 

Ptolemy,  the  geographer,  50. 

"  Redbeard,"  the  pirate,  171. 
Rigging  of  primitive  ships,  30. 
Robbers  of  the  Seas,  171-185. 
Ross,  Arctic  explorations  by,  81,  82. 
Royal  George,  sunk,  201. 
Rules  of  the  road  at  sea,  203. 
Russian  Arctic  coast,  the,  79. 

Sails,  lateen,  32. 
Sails,  names  of  a  ship's,  36. 
Sails  of  early  ships,  30. 
Sails,  square-rigged,  34. 
Sails,  two  types  of,  31. 
St.  Lawrence  Bay  and  River  discov- 
ered, 68. 
St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  242. 
Salamis,  battle  of,  107. 
Samoa,  the  great  storm  at,  206-211. 


Sandbagger,  a,  197. 

Sardines,  fishing  for,  244. 

Sargasso  Seas,  251. 

Schooners,  described,  36,  38. 

Scylla  and  Charybdis,  19. 

Sealing,  241. 

Search-light,  uses  of,  on  war-ships, 

150. 
Sea-shells,   use  and  beauty  of,  269, 

273- 
Sea-snakes,  259. 
Seaweeds,  249-257. 
Secrets  won  from  the  Frozen 

North,  77-165. 
Serapis,  fight  of  the,  128. 
Seventy-four,  a,  121. 
Sharks,  as  a  danger  to  divers,  271. 
Sharpie,  characteristics  of  the,  198. 
Ship-building,  development  of,  119. 
Ship-chandler,  a,  204. 
Ship,  sails  of  a  full-rigged,  36. 
Ships,  the  Building  and  Rigging 

OF,  27-38. 
Ships'  lanterns  and  lights,  204. 
Ships,  Phoenician,  155. 
Ships,  Roman  merchant,  156. 
Siberia,  explorations  north  of,  79,  93, 

95- 
Signaling  at  night,  205,  206,  222. 
Sirens,  or  fog-horns,  2x9. 
Slave-trade,  the,  184. 
Sloop,  a,  described,  35. 
Solis  discovers  the  La  Plata,  69. 
Sounding  oceanic  depths,  9. 
South  America,  discovery  of,  61,  62. 
South  Sea.     See  Pacific  Ocean. 
Spanish  conquerors  in  West  Indies, 

177. 
Spitzbergen,  91,  233. 
Sponges  and  their  taking,  265. 
Spritsail-mast,  the,  34. 
Square-rig,  examples  of,  33. 
Starfishes,  damage  by,  265. 
Steamships,  development  of,  165, 168. 
Steamships,  ocean  courses  of,  168. 
Steamships,  records  of  transatlantic, 

166. 
Steerage  passage,  the,  163. 
Steering,  methods  of,  29. 
Suez  Canal,  the,  41,  169. 

Table  of  sea-road  distances,  1 70. 
Tactics,  naval,  107.  115,  118,  121, 135. 
Tasman,  voyages  of,  72. 
Telegraph,  submarine,  161. 
Tides,  explained,  17. 
Topsail  schooner,  described,  36. 
Torpedo-boats,  140,  150-154. 
Torpedoes  and  submarine  mines,  148. 
Trafalgar,  battle  of,  126. 
Trawls  described,  246,  272. 
Treasure-ships,   Spanish,    173,    178, 

182. 
Trepang,  or  bSche  la  vier,  266. 
Tripoli,  bombardment  of,  174. 
Triremes,  Greek  and  Roman,  108. 
Tunnies,  fishing  for,  244. 
Turtles,  as  a  danger  to  divers,  272. 

United  States  exploring  expedition, 

76. 
United  States,  naval  incidents,   128, 

174,  183. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


279 


Vasco  da  Gama,  56,  157. 
Vega,  voyage  of,  north  of  Asia,  93. 
Venice,  state  barge  of,  112. 
Venus'-comb  shell,  274. 
Verrazano,  voyage  of,  68. 
Vespucci,  Amerigo,  voyages  of,  62. 
Vesuvitts,  the  dynamite-cruiser,  154. 
Vikings,  origin  and  voyages  of,  29, 44. 
Vinland  visited,  47. 
Voyages  and   Explorations, 
Early,  39-76. 

Walrus-huntii^g,  241. 
War-ships  and  Naval  Battles, 
107-154. 


War-ships  wrecked  at  Samoa,   206- 

211. 
Wasp  and  Frolic,  129. 
Water-spouts  at  sea,  202. 
W'aves,  tides,  and  currents,  9. 
Weather-stations,  international,  96. 
West  coast  of  Africa,  42,  53,  56. 
Weyprecht,  Arctic  work  of,  91. 
Whaleback,  the,  169. 
Whaling,  history  of  American,  235. 
Whaling,  history  of  European,  233. 
Whaling,  in  the  North  Atlantic,  80, 

94. 
Whaling,  methods  of,  231,  237-241.      Zeni,  voyages  of  the,  48. 


Whaling-vessels,  235. 
Wreckers,  doings  of,  212. 

Yachting  and  Pleasure-boating, 

186. 
Yachting,  early  history  of,  187,  196. 
Yacht-clubs    in   the    United     States, 

188,  196. 
Yachts,  designing  racing,  192,  195. 
Yachts,  rigs  of  small,  197. 
Yawl,  characteristics  of  the,  197. 


UCSB  LIBRARY 


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